The One They Call Beautiful
by Cereza101
Summary: "Please! Just let me die!" I screamed but of course, who would ever listen to me. I'm only an experiment to them. Would you be any different? Would you risk your own life...for a monster? One that kills without reason, without a soul, but more importantly one that never had the chance to live. VincentXOC
1. The End?

_**EDITED 9/9/2012**_

_**The One They Call Beautiful**_

Chapter 1

'WH-where am I?' All I could hear were murmurs of two people. One sounded female and the other was male. They were arguing…about a project…number two. The last thing I remember was a pair of small green eyes and they were crying. Red liquid was coming out of my mouth as I desperately tried to hold a small body next to mine.

I could barely open my eyelids. They felt so heavy. Light shined through my water tank as I tried to move any part of my body. I was paralyzed. My eyes were starting to sting regardless of my light mask; it was the only thing that covered me. As my head moved down I noticed that I was naked with my legs crossed at my ankles and arms crossed enough to cover my chest. Everything hurt, my body and mind- I felt so exhausted.

Both of them stopped arguing when they heard me and looked towards my tank with their startled expressions. The ugly male smiled creepily and turned his full body to me. I saw a nametag but unfortunately was unable to read it when he folded his arms and walked towards me.

His eyes are what gave him away. I've never seen such evil and disgusting aura on anyone before. His white lab coat flapped behind him and eyes as they were stalking me…analyzing me…studying me…nothing but a plaything.

"So," his voice was disturbing, "you're finally awake." I flinched as his hand came up to the glass of my tank and started to rub up and down. He is evil, all I want to do is kill him.

Professor Hojo," the female sounded nervous and weak, "just please stop doing that! You're scaring her. "Please…" her voice began to crack, "I beg of you, stop experimenting on her!"

"Why? It was your idea after all to do this to your "daughter". I told you not to let her in but no you just had to be the sweet, loving Lucrecia. You wouldn't deny her the freedom she wanted." He sneered. "I still don't understand why you took that brat in, the first place! Wait a minute, I know. You're only using her as a replacement for the boy aren't you?"

The woman flinched at the harsh tone of his voice.

'So this woman is my mother? But not by blood apparently.'

"Be quiet." The woman's voice sounded hostile.

"She'll be more worthy than that Ex-Turk and just maybe-"

"NO! I won't allow another person to become like that again, especially not Dawn!"

'Dawn, that's my name. Dawn.'

"No? My how I admire your spirit, but unfortunately all good things must come to an end. She will be my next project and I will do whatever is necessary to make sure that this one does not fail me. She has already managed to survive the other tests, what's a few hundred more?" The mad scientist pulled out a remote control "Goodnight," he smirked, "number two."

Everything went black.


	2. The One Who Has Nothing

This Chapter goes out to my friends especially to Seif114 who inspired me to write. I especially recommend her stories. They're very well written. And of course thank you to those who added my story onto their subscription. A review or two more would be nice.

Hope you enjoy!

**Edited 9\9/2012**

_**The One They Call Beautiful**_

Chapter 2

_3 ½ Years Earlier-location: Lab_

_Jenova Project _

"Hey Vincent, are you alright?" Lucrecia asked.

"Huh? Oh-uh. Yeah, why do you ask?"

"Well," She sighed as she got out of her chair, "you've been spacing out more than usual and it looks like you're suffering from insomnia." She tilted her head and crossed her arms.

Vincent scratched the back of his head, "I don't know what you're talking about. I don't have insomnia and I _don't _stare into space." 'Besides it's already bad enough that Hojo gives off a bad vibe.' He added mentally.

"That's not what your eyes tell me." She pointed to her own eyes and smiled, "Remember Vincent, I'm a scientist, it's my job to observe."

There was a silent comfortable moment between the two… until his stomach growled loudly enough to make an echo in the lab.

"Ha, ha, ha," she laughed lightly. "Come on, let's go eat. I'm starving as well." Both of them walked out of the lab and into society. Lucrecia failed to notice Vincent's slight blush of embarrassment.

They made their way through the poor streets of Nibelheim trying to figure out what to eat for lunch. It wasn't until late afternoon that both of them agreed to a small picnic.

"Hey Vincent, could you find a place for us to eat? I need to get a few more things." She mentioned to the basket in her hand. Apparently she had forgotten the jam and other fruits.

(A/N: "Vitamin String Quartet- She will be loved")

"Yeah, sure. I'll meet you in front of that store in half an hour." Both of them nodded and walked the opposite direction. As she was walking down the familiar street, the brown haired scientist couldn't help but to stop and listen to an enchanting tune. Lucrecia followed the mesmerizing sound and saw a little girl no more than ten years old playing the violin. Every so often the violin would make a loud squeaky noise because of the worn out bow and the four strings. The scientist took another look at the girl and she was in rags…she was poor and her hollow eyes gave away of her hardships she goes through.

Said girl let out a sad sigh but kept on playing. The way she played was so very lovely that she started to attract a small crowd. Lucrecia felt as though she was surrounded by angels and a light aura, feeling as if she could do anything. The song came to an end. The little girl looked down at her violin case and noticed that she had only made a few gils. The look in her eye said it all. She was not going to survive tonight without food or water. The crowed had died out and left only leaving Lucrecia.

Lucrecia was touched by the way the little girl had gracefully played the song even if the violin was old. She clapped and the young violinist was startled by her being so forward. "Such lovely music shouldn't go unrewarded little one." She reached down into her pocket, pulled out a at least 500 gil and placed it into the small hands of the little girl. The little shy girl said no and nodded her head very fast.

"I cannot accept this. It's too much money."

"Really I insist."

"Th-thank you" she whispered as she put her hard earned money away and sat down on the curve of the dirty sidewalk. A silent pause was in the air as people walked by minding their own business.

"Do you mind if I joined you for a while?" She nodded no and moved her violin to the other side of her. "Have you been doing this for a long time?"

She nodded yes and responded," Ever since I ran away from my parents."

"Why would you ever want to run away?"

"…some things are better left hidden, especially in Nibelheim."

"Alright then, may I ask how old you are?"

"Eleven…you ask too many question you know that?"

"Because I want to help you silly."

"Why? What do you get out of it?" she arched her eyebrow at Lucrecia.

Lucrecia only smiled lightly at her and gave her a hug. She could see from the look in her grey eyes that she was dying inside very slowly. She could guess why she left her parents behind. "Silly little girl, I thought you would've figured out by now." The young violinist showed no emotion as she pulled back from her hug. "It's because I care. It's unfair how you must survive on your own without any kind of help." Her eyes widened slightly at that comment.

"Since you'll be seeing me now and I'm going to be your regular customer, it's only proper that I tell you my name. I am Lucrecia Crescent. What's your-"

"Lucrecia!" Dr. Crescent turned to hear the sound of Vincent's voice and found him jogging towards her. "We have to go; it's almost time to go back to the lab."

"Alright but I still need to-"she turned around and her smile faded. The young violinist had disappeared without a trace and left without telling her name.


	3. The One Who Almost Lost

Hello my dear readers and once more thank you for reviewing and subscribing. I totally forgot to change dollars to Gil money.

This chapter is going to be a bit longer than the other chapters that I've written, so please enjoy and tell me if I could improve on anything else.

A puffin for anyone who reviews! (Look them up, for they are very cute!)

_**The One They Call Beautiful**_

Chapter 3

_One Year Later_

"Dr. Crescent, are you alright?"

"Hm? Oh yeah. I'm fine Vincent."

"Are you sure? You seem a bit…more distant than usual. You started to act like this about a year ago. I just never thought to bring it up." His eyebrow rose in suspicion trying to figure her out. She seemed so nervous that she kept playing with the sides of her lab coat and avoid eye contact.

"I've just been busy with research is all, nothing more." Lucrecia smiled at Vincent in reassurance and glanced at the clock. It was almost two o'clock in the afternoon. Her eyes widened in panic and started to clean up her research papers that surrounded the lab. "I'm late." She whispered.

"Dr. Lucrecia-"

"No time to lose! I have to go! BYE!" She almost ran into the door as she opened it.

Vincent looked around and noticed she had forgotten her bag. He sighed as he took it and ran after her. Unknown to them both, a computer had turned on by itself and started to download information about Chaos.

"Oh my goodness, I'm so late!" She ran around the corner and saw just in time to see the young violinist ending her melancholy song, "Why must you always play such sad songs? A happier would one probably bring in more money." She smiled and ruffled the girls' long, black, dirty hair. The violinist smiled slightly and looked up at her, but the smile was gone when she looked behind Lucrecia.

"You promised you wouldn't tell anybody about me." The scientist looked confused and looked behind her as well and was surprised. Vincent was running towards them carrying…her purse.

'That's what I forgot.' She mentally face palmed.

As Vincent gave the purse back to Lucrecia he noticed a little girl hiding behind her with a violin clutched in her slightly small hands. "Thank you Vincent." Lucrecia looked back, "You don't have to hide sweetie. He's not one of the men here who are evil, Vincent Valentine-"she gestured towards him "-is actually one of the few men you can actually trust." Lucrecia moved out of the way and gently pushed her towards Vincent.

The little girl shuffled her feet and looked down shyly, "Hello Mr. Valentine."

Vincent leaned down on one knee, "You may call me Vincent if you'd like."

The violinist kicked an invisible pebble, "I think I'll stick to Mr. Valentine."

Dr. Crescent replied to Vincent's confused face, "She speaks very formally for a twelve-year old girl." When he looked back down to her, he noticed that her hand was out to him. She was waiting for a handshake. He was shocked due to her shyness and not wanting to make eye contact with him.

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," and shook her hand.

_3 months later_

_Vincent POV_

Three months have passed and she still hasn't given me her name. Then again she's been with Lucrecia for over a year and has yet to tell her…I'm still one year behind. I sighed in annoyance and waited for Lucrecia to finish her experiment with Hojo. If she doesn't finish early, we're going to be late. I couldn't get this nagging feeling in the back of my head that something bad was going to happen.

"Vincent," her soft voice took me out of my musings, "could you do me a favor and give this to our little friend?" She handed me a small black box with a white ribbon on it and said 'Happy Birthday' on it…wait was todays date again?

"Don't worry; I put both of our names on it because I knew that you would forget. You never really were good with dates." She giggled a little but soon turned into a frown. "Please tell her I'm sorry. Hojo needs me in the lab- we've yet to finish experimenting. I hope she doesn't hate me."

"It's alright Dr. Crescent, I'll tell her and don't worry, she won't hate you. I'm curious about one thing though; does she know that this is your line of work? She said to me that she didn't like scientists because they could unbalance the rules of nature."

Lucrecia's frown went even lower. As she was about to answer my question Hojo interrupted. "Dr. Crescent! Stop dilly dallying, your assistance is needed."

Lucrecia left toward the entrance to the lab. She stopped and her head turned to the side. Lucrecia was about to answer me but she hesitated and went inside. I already knew what her answer was.

I arrived at the usual area where the violinist was but was nowhere to be found. Actually there was on one in the streets or stores. Creepy. "This isn't right," I told myself, "she never leaves this area." I started to walk around looking for any source of life but there was nothing. I went through alleys and I found her violin on the floor… but not the girl. I started to panic and took it with me. I took out my gun in case I needed it and loaded it. Running through the alleys once more, I heard yelling.

"It's her!" I sprinted towards the scream and let the violin drop from out of my hands.

"Leave me alone!" She wasn't fast enough to outrun the four elder men but was able to outmaneuver them.

I sprinted down another alley for a shortcut and heard a crack followed by an earsplitting scream. "AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH." I ran even harder. Adrenaline was pumping through my veins as the scream was forever embedded into my head.

I found her lying on the ground clutching onto a dislocated shoulder and a stab wound on the right side of her hip, with four men surrounding her. One of the men pulled a gun on her.

_3__rd__ Person POV_

The Girl flinched under the man and stopped crying. She was no longer in pain. Only anger and sorrow -she had to die like this.

_BANG!_

The girl closed her eyes waiting for death but it never came. She looked up and saw the man who was about to pull the trigger on the ground clutching, to his leg and noticed that Vincent had fired the gun and was in front of her. The three other men were astonished at the man's speed. "If you don't leave right now," his voice was calm and menacing, "I will put a bullet through every single one of your heads." All of them left taking the injured man with them.

Vincent kneeled by the girl and tried to sit her up but was in too much pain to be moved. He saw that her blood was coating his black suit and floor painting it in red. "Damn." The Turk whispered and took off his jacket and wrapped it around the girls' fragile body.

The girl turned to face him, "I'm dirtying your suit," the Turk only nodded his head.

"I'll have to pop your shoulder back in place," the girl nodded.

"On three…One-"Crack. The girl gave a silent scream and knocked out. The girl was lifted up into his arms but for some reason felt a little 'too light'. She was supposed to be gaining weight from the money Lucrecia was giving her, but only a few pounds. She still looked like she was starving herself. The Turk raced through the nearest hospital to save the girls' life.


	4. The One Who Feels Safe

**Final Fantasy VII does not belong to me but to their respectful owners. I only own my character and this idea for my story.**

I hope you enjoy and review.

_**The One They Call Beautiful**_

Chapter 4

'Where am I?' Nothing was in my grasp; only darkness clouded me as I was floating in gloom.

'Wake up…' I heard a whisper no louder than the wind.

'Who's there?' My voice created an echo.

'Wake up.' The voice was a bit louder.

'Who are you?' I saw a small fire gleam in the dark.

'Wake up!' The light burned my skin as it engulfed me. Visions of a girl was submerged in water with a mask on her head was what I saw. I couldn't see her face though.

My eyes slowly opened to reveal strawberry scented candle, next to my fluffy, comfortable bed…wait. I sat up in the bed as quickly as possible-which was a bad idea. My side began to hurt and noticed I had a cast on my right arm and was bandaged on my right hip. I looked at my skin and noted that someone had washed me.

Last nights' events flashed through my memories as I looked around the…room. Was I not dead? What about a hospital-shouldn't I have been in there if I survived? I heard a knocking at the door.

"Come in." My voice was somewhat raspy.

I saw the door open and for some odd reason I was not surprised to see Lucrecia come in. "How are you feeling? Better I hope." Lucrecia sat at the edge of the bed next to me. "Although I don't mind you being here, it would've been better if you received medical attention at the hospital. I know you don't like it but you should've at least let Vincent take you there." I couldn't remember what had happened to me. "Now let's take a look at you."

I nodded and want to Lucrecia's side as slowly as possible. She lifted my shirt with ease to reveal the professionally wrapped wound. I flinched as cool air met my skin when Dr. Crescent was undoing my bandage that was now dyed red. My wound was slightly bleeding through the neat stiches. "Are you a hemophiliac? Your wounds aren't healed yet."

"…wasn't I injured yesterday?" I felt my stomach turn as I saw her facial expression change.

"No, you've been out for almost a week." Now I became somewhat worried, "so are you a hemophiliac?"

"No." I nodded and noticed the window bringing in light. "May I go outside…I love the light," I hated my mumbling, for it made me feel weak.

"Sure, let me go get Vincent so he can keep an eye on you."

"I have a question." I looked up at Lucrecia," How long have you been a doctor?"

Her expression was interesting. Ms. Crescent freezed up slightly and her face became sad and nervous. "I… I am not proud of the things that I've done as a doctor."

"Have you ever lost a life before?" I asked her. Now she was really pale white as if triggering a memory.

Her face went from sad and nervous to happy and cheerful. She was lying. "No, I've never lost one before. Now let's get you dressed up into new clothes."

'She was very shaken up. It was probably best if I hadn't asked her.'

I was resting on my bed, wondering what I would do with the rest of my life. My arm was injured, I lost my violin, and I have stiches. Not pretty. "Great." I sighed in annoyance. I heard more knocking on the door. "Come in." My monotone voice was back.

The door opened and Mr. Valentine was holding two items. A small black box and…a violin case. My eyes widened in surprise. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly while putting the two items at the side of my bed.

"Happy-err…late birthday," he gave me the small little black box with a white ribbon first. I opened it and saw a silver, medium sized bell, "I don't really know what Dr. Crescent was thinking when she told me that this was her gift to you." He chuckled somewhat.

"But this says that it's also from you."

"No, to be totally honest I forgot it was your birthday," Vincent looked ashamed but then took the violin case and put it lightly into my arm, "This however, I bought with my money…I kind of killed your last one by accident."

I took the vase and opened it. As I looked inside, I noticed that this violin was brand new. The surface was smooth; the wires were no longer weak and snapping. It felt like for the first time, that someone actually cared…that is if that same person didn't mean to destroy your personal belongings.

"I hope you enjoy your gift," I nodded and put it aside. He turned and was about to go outside to get me a wheel chair seeing as I was not able to walk but I caught his attention.

"As for the bells," He turned around slightly, "Dr. Crescent believes that I should wear them. She says that I'm a cat. I don't make a sound when I walk nor do I talk enough. Just enough for it to be necessary."

"I see. Well we should best be on our way. Dr. Crescent is waiting for us." He turned and went for the door once more.

"Mr. Valentine," I said in a softer voice, "thank you, for saving my life."

"You're welcome." He left out the door.

'Should I tell them my name?'


	5. Do You Really Want My Name?

**I've been thinking about writing a new story while working on this one. I'm not sure if it's a good idea or not.**

**I don't own **_**The Blindside **_**either. I put a scene from the movie, and I highly recommend it.**

_**The One They Call Beautiful**_

Chapter 5

30 minutes later I was in a wheel chair being pushed by Vincent into the garden of the mansion. I looked at the garden and they had many different kinds of flowers. Even my favorite one was there. Many other girls may love roses, but I love the lotus flower. I think that it's just as beautiful as any red rose but the lotus just prefers the background, wanting to be invisible but yearning to be recognized for its inner beauty. Feels like me, unfortunately. Such a depressing flower.

"Hey," Vincent snapped me out of my thoughts with his calm voice. I nodded for him to continue as I reached over to my left of the wheel chair to pick the lotus, "I have-well Dr. Crescent had a question to ask you but could not because of her work schedule."

"Okay."

"If you would like to live here?"

"I'm afraid… that I cannot accept," because in the end, both of you will end up leaving me.

"So, why can't you accept my invitation?" I looked behind me and saw Lucrecia walking toward us through the corner of my eye with her vibrant smile.

"I don't belong here; it's as simple as that. Although I thank you for what you both have done for me."

Lucrecia exhaled in disappointment, "Vincent, please roll our friend into the mansion," she smiled, "we're going to show her the room that I've prepared for her."

This time I exhaled in disappointment. There was no use arguing against Dr. Crescent, she'd always win against me.

"We're here," Lucrecia opened the door and as I was wheeled into the room I noticed that it was huge…I take that back. Huge is an understatement. I slowly got out of the wheel chair to not damage my slowly healing wounds.

"Is this…is this mine?"

"Everything in here is yours." She smiled at me.

I walked slowly clutching my right hip with my lotus and glided over the comfortable bed. "I've never had one before." I knew my voice sounded raspy.

"What? A whole room to yourself?" she joked.

"A bed." I caught Lucrecia and Vincent off guard.

"U-um. A-alright then, I have to get back to work," her strides were long and trying to leave the room as quickly as possible but halted in front of the door, "please accept this gift. This is not your house, this is your home." She disappeared behind the door, with Vincent staring after her.

"Something must be very fascinating for you to be staring at the door so intently," my eyebrow rose at him, and caught him blushing.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"If you love her then go tell her." I told him simply.

"It's not as easy as it seems." His head shook slowly.

"A lot of things in life aren't easy, but please try."

Vincent chuckled, "I can't believe I'm taking advice from a 13 year old. Right…um" He didn't know my name. I never told either of them. Both referred to me as 'you', 'she', and sometimes even 'young violinist'. I sat on the bed with my back towards him while looking outside the window, watching the sun set.

"My name is…" memories came flashing through my mind, "of no importance to you, Mr. Valentine. Maybe I'll tell you when you're on your deathbed." I turned towards him and saw his face. "Yes you saved my life, and helped me live a new life along with Dr. Crescent. But…we're all humans Vincent." His expression softened and waited for my response, "We all love to tell lies." The lights in the room flickered on and off.


	6. My Enemies and Friends

**Thank you to those who have added my story to story Alert or Favorites. I'm sorry for the late update, even though it's summer I have a lot of things to do- Unfortunately. ⌐_⌐**

**I tried to add a little bit more humor and less depressing stuff because I was even getting low.**

**Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter too!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy or its characters, I only own my OC.**

_**The One They Call Beautiful**_

Chapter 6

Vincent POV

My mind was buzzing with questions. What did she mean by that? Was she even 13 years old? Her words are harsh and eyes- they belong to those that have faced hardships in life. The betrayal in her voice though is ironic no matter how innocent she sounded. Her understanding of the human mind is rather disturbing- she's different from other children.

Whatever happened to her, she doesn't like people knowing about her, as if she's trying to erase herself from existence. She pushes me and Lucrecia away but at the same time keeps us close. Who is she exactly?

"I see your reasoning, but I have an offer for you." My voice remained calm and stoic even though her comment on me being on my deathbed got to me.

I seemed to get her attention as she slowly turned her eyes to me with her blank face.

"Since you want to protect yourself from humans emotionally, what about physically?"

"What are you saying Mr. Valentine?"

"What if I were to offer you training in hand-to-hand combat?"

_POV

'What?' "I don't understand?"

"You almost bled to death; don't you think that learning how to protect yourself is valuable at this point?" He sounded very convincing.

"…" I said nothing but I nodded in understanding. It's already happened to me several times but never to this extent. I glare at the ground because of my weakness that day.

"Vincent will train you on one condition." My eyebrow rose in confusion as I saw Dr. Crescent walk back in the door. I thought she had to go back to her job. As if reading my mind she responded that she wasn't needed at the moment. "You're going to attend school."

I swear that my blood from my face drained and became white as a ghost. 'Oh. Hell. No.'

~One Week Later~

"Aww, don't you look adorable?" She giggled at my new appearance.

"Um, Dr. Crescent…" It seemed as though Mr. Valentine was the only one who understood my uncomfortable situation.

"…"

"Yes Vincent."

"I don't think that she likes to wear the uniform."

"Hm? What makes you say that?" Lucrecia turned around to face Vincent.

"…"

"She looks-not like herself." Vincent seemed like an owl with his wide eyes.

"Oh nonsense…you do like it right?" Dr. Crescent turned to get another glance at me. I was wearing a white buttoned shirt, a black tie, skirt, shoes and a blazer. Even I don't wear this much black.

"It's different." I began to tuck the skirt lower than it was supposed to. I didn't want to sound whiney, after all that I've been through; I'd rather not take anything for granted.

"You see." She smiled again, "She does like it. Now let's do something about that hair." Her fingers skillfully maneuvered through my long black hair into a fish tail braid with my bangs covering at the sides of my face. It felt weird, to be cared for and was expected nothing in return. There are always others who need this treatment more than I do. They are the real victims. I was snapped out of my thoughts.

"…you think you can handle it?" I didn't know what Lucrecia said.

"Hm? Oh. Yeah, I can handle it."

"Here," she handed me three large books, "AP Euro, AP Biology and Algebra 2/Trigonometry Honors."

"…What?" I am not a genius. Just an average kid for god's sake! And isn't this for sophomore's? I'm supposed to be a freshman…right?

"It shouldn't be any problem right?"

"Umm…" I sweat dropped.

"Great! Vincent could you walk her to school? I don't want her to get jumped again. Especially around here with all the gunfire and gangs in the morning." She whispered to him.

"What?"

"Bye! Good luck on your first day of school!" She yelled and waved goodbye.

Even Vincent seemed somewhat surprised by her antics. I was now being dragged out by a nervous Vincent down the hall and out of nowhere in front of a high school was in front of me.

'…Somebody out there just loves me.' Note the sarcasm.

~Later that Week~

I came back from school exhausted not knowing what any of my teachers were explaining during class-again-…except for my Biology teacher, Mr. Seko.

I walked through the door of my bedroom and found Vincent with his arms folded with a look of annoyance in his eyes. "Would you like to explain why I got a call from the principal about your behavior in Biology class?"

"…"

~Flashback~

On the first day I came, there were tests on my desk. All of my teachers said that it was just to see what I know. Anyway I took it. Today, however, I got my test back from Biology and got a score of 91%. A person next to me-whose name I found out later was Phoebe- told me that I beat the smartest person by 1%. Oh boy, this will surely get me some enemies fast.

I sighed in annoyance. That test was basic knowledge. Everybody knows that atoms are the smallest basic unit of matter. I was enjoying Mr. Seko's lecture –creepy right- until all of a sudden a girl named Hikari looked over my paper and shouted at me "NERD!"

I rolled my eyes in annoyance, and began drinking from my water bottle.

"Now, now Hikari, with grades like…" Mr. Seko didn't know my name, "Ms. Crescent," I began choking on my water, "she could possibly be your boss in the future." The next thing I know, everyone is snickering and talking about how Hikari just got "smoked" by Mr. Seko. The whispering died down and so I thought to myself, 'Why not have some fun by making her look like an idiot?'

"Nah, I doubt it. I don't plan on being a pimp."

The whole class went, "OHHHHHHHH!"

"Bitch you just got owned!" Phoebe yelled at Hikari.

~Flashback over~

"Where did you get such language from?" Vincent scolded me as if I were a mere child.

"Once you've been living in the streets for a while, you learn some things." I stated it as if it were a daily occurrence.

Vincent sighed and said I was grounded for three days and walked out. Honestly I don't understand the concept of getting 'grounded'. It's the equivalent of heaven to me and it encourages kids to talk back to their parents… well what do you know, that article I was reading in math class wasn't so boring after all.

I looked out the window and saw the clouds and wondered about todays' theatrics. Why did Mr. Seko call me 'Ms. Crescent?' I lay on the bed and let sleep take over my body. My dreams were always the same. A girl was in a water tank, two people were conducting experiments on her. She grew wings and her eyes turned a bright red. I would never see her face, only the body. The scientists were also the same, except one seemed to care about her while the other was scum. I still couldn't figure out who she was. The scary part is I felt as if I know her. I always woke up from the dream at the same part. When the girl opened her eyes, she looked at me with her red eyes.

"Well," I said to myself, "looks like it's another night without much sleep." My heart went out to that girl. My nightmares were the reasons why I hated scientists. They fuck everything up.


	7. Change for the Better

**It has taken some time but I was able to write this chapter. I hope you enjoy.**

_**The One They Call Beautiful**_

Chapter 7

**9 Months Later**

The dreams have increased to the point where I no longer get any sleep. An insomniac is the best to describe it. Black circles under my eyes have been very noticeable but I refuse to take pills for sleeping. For some reason I know if I were to take them I'd overdose on purpose.

For the past nine months, Vincent has been teaching me hand to hand combat and using a gun but I am very bad with guns. Very bad. Last time I helped Vincent with an errand concerning chocobos' and I had one…let's just say Vincent was displeased with me for a week.

I'm still somewhat passing my other classes with an average of a C but science is my best subject…how fitting. I hate science, yet that's the one subject I'm passing with an A. Lucky me- note the sarcasm.

As I started to get ready for the last day of school of this year, I prayed that there would be no homework, but teachers were just so evil these days and still gave me for the break. Right after school, I went back to the Shinra mansion. Mr. Valentine had told me to read up on swords since I was-in his words, "You are intelligent, fast and well-coordinated. I recommend for you to use swords as your first skill but you're better off learning from books. I'm not much of a swordsman myself, but you'd benefit from the reading."

'Now that I think about his words…it must mean that I really suck with a gun.'

Walking through the mansion's library feels like a maze to me or it might be the fact that I've never been in here until now. It's most likely the latter.

"I wonder." I went towards the back of the library under the history section and found books on weapons and such. I read about claymores, cutlass, falchion, long sword, and katana…damn that's a lot. So far the only ones that have interested me are the heavy weapons. I look at my arms and poke at what small muscle I have and sigh silently. "I know I'm a girl and 13 years old, and that my body probably won't be able to lift heavy objects. Even with Valentine's crazy workout it still won't be enough for my muscle development.

I sat on one of the libraries round table and laid 5 books down for me to read through, which were thankfully not that large. About three hours later it felt though as if someone was staring at me, so I looked to my left, then right.

"Try looking behind."

"What?!" I dropped the book and fell backwards still in my chair. I looked up and Vincent was staring down at me with a blank face.

"My, how _graceful_ you've become in the months that I've trained you."

I rolled my eyes at him and got up.

"Not only more clumsy, but you show more emotion now- which I am grateful for-, but you have yet to tell us your name, so I've decided to give you one, Daisy."

"No, I told you that I'll give you my name, but not yet Valentine."

He sighed in disappointment, "I'm still going to call you Daisy. It's tiring referring you to her, she and so on. Have you decided what sword you're going to use?

I nodded, "Not yet. I'm having trouble deciding."

His eyebrow arched, "Need help?"

"Yes, but how are you going to help?"

"I need to see your body type."

"What do you mean? You've seen me for more than one year."

"Yes, but you always wear baggy clothing, so I cannot determine if your body will be able to withstand heavy or light weapons. Not to mention that's all you wear to school and training now."

"I see, so what do I do?"

Vincent walked in front of me with his blank face back still in place, "Strip to your last layer of clothing."

"…"

"…"

"Is there another option?"

"Oh sure, unless you rather I grope you through your clothes." He said dripping with sarcasm.

"Option one." I started to take off my hoodie and long-sleeved shirt, leaving me with my spaghetti strapped shirt. I did the same thing with my sweats and was left with shorts under…I love to layer clothing.

The raven haired man began to circle me and asked me to do certain stretches. It felt comfortable since he wasn't the type to "look" at a girl. He grabbed my arms and legs to check for muscle. The part that felt weird was when his had went to my stomach and told me to flex and started to push his hand further into it but gently pulled back.

"My recommendation would be a katana or something closely related to it. Based on your muscle growth you'll be strong but…I'm not sure if a heavy weapon will be in your favor. Though it's too early to tell, I'm only saying this from observation."

"Thanks for your opinion oh wise Mr. Miyagi." I finished dressing back up into my comfortable unnecessary clothing.

"You are most welcome Daisy." I swore that I saw him smirk, "We'll be going to find you a katana or something close it and hopefully balance you out in your grace, speed, and strength." We began walking out of the mansion.

"Grace?"

"It sounds worthless, but during battle -and if you have grace- it's a lot easier to flow through your movements and predict the enemies' attacks."

"Makes sense."

"Come on, right now Lucrecia is running an errand with Hojo," he spat his name, "so they won't be back in a while."

"Um, aren't you supposed to be protecting them?" I asked unsure.

"Yes."

"Then-"

"Apparently this one is top secret. Even I can't follow on some objectives."

"I see. Where do they sell katanas?"

"There's a person around here who makes them to the wielder's needs. So long as you give them the money to do it and to buy the metals' needed."

"It sounds expensive, how do you know he exists?" He turned his head to me and winked. I guess being a Turk has its advantages. We walked into the empty streets of Nibelheim.

"Even though it's expensive, it is worth every gil."

The rest of the way was silent to a small shack, just on the corner of Nibelheim- long walk. We went inside and saw many blades on the walls of the shack. As I went to inspect the swords I heard footsteps coming from another door.

"Can I help you?" The voice was that of an adult male, maybe in his late twenties or so.

"I need a sword for her." that was my cue to walk over to Vincent and the older man.

"What kind of sword are you thinking of?"

"I need something close to a katana." 'Something heavy basically.'

"Alright, how tall are you?"

"5'3". Why is he asking me this?

"Age?"

"13." Now that's just inappropriate.

"Since you're still growing, I think a longer sword is suggested. Are you comfortable with a Nodachi that's 68 inches?"

"Umm, that thing is 5 inches longer than me." I mumbled under my breath, "Yes."

"When do you need it created by?"

"Uh-"

"As soon as possible." Vincent cut me off.

"Very well. In exactly one week and do you have any preference on the hilt?"

"No-wait!" I reached into my back pocket and pulled out my silver medium sized bell that Lucrecia had given me as a joke, "Could you make this part of the chain to hang off?" I gave it to the man and nodded. I walked out as Vincent left the necessary amount of gil with the craftsman.

"You still had the bell with you?"

"Of course I do. It's one of my first gifts. I still have yours too but I haven't touched it since you gave it to me. I've been so busy since I last played it, especially with my classes that were keeping me up from sleep.

"Hm," he smirked, "you should play when I have a day off. I wouldn't want my gift to feel neglected."

"Maybe I will. Race you to the mansion?" I looked to my right and he was already several yards ahead of me. "Hey? Not fair!" I ran after him all the way to the mansion.

**OMAKE**

_30 minutes later_

"You cheated Daisy." We were talking in the living room discussing about a very serious subject.

"I did no such thing." I responded as Vincent put a bag of ice on his cheek.

"You elbowed me in the face while we were running." He stated plainly.

"…I don't believe I did."

"You are a horrible liar."

"Okay then how about a rematch? Winner gets bragging rights for a whole month."

Footsteps began to echo through the living room and Lucrecia came in with a pitcher of green bubbling stuff and a plate of what was…moving?

"I made some snacks!" Lucrecia set them on the table in front of us and walked out.

"Okay new plan," I began, "we run to Luigi's Pizza. The last one has to buy for the winner and themselves. Deal?"

"Deal, but no elbowing in the face."

"Sounds fair." We ran out the door and I elbowed him in the stomach and got ahead of him. Hey he never said anything about anywhere else. At the end of the day, I had a very full stomach. Vincent had a full and sore stomach.

**Pay attention to the mentions of the dreams. If you pay attention you'll figure out how she's connected. I'll reveal "Daisy's" name in either chapter 9 or 10. **


	8. The Good and the Bad

**I am on a roll here. I went back to playing Crisis Core and got inspired when Genesis began reading Loveless. Thanks to those who faved/alerted! :D**

_**The One They Call Beautiful**_

Chapter 8

It's been a week since I ran against Vincent and being cooped up inside my room. My skin began to pale from not enough sunlight and my eyes began to get blurry from all of my research I've been doing on the Nodachi. The books have been somewhat useful, but now I have to figure out a way on how to apply it to real life. Not going to be easy.

Speaking of swords, I have to go and pick mine up today. Should I ask Vincent to come with me? Nah, I'll just leave a note for him and Lucrecia. Just in case. After I made the note, I attached it to the door of my room and left. Besides, what's the worst that could happen?

I arrived around midday at the lonely shack. All of the swords were missing, that used to be on the walls. The man who was creating the Nodachi for me was packing his clothes and other belongings away. "Um, excuse me…sir?"

At the sound of my voice he stopped and looked at me. "You're here to pick up the Nodachi right?"

"Yes."

The man smiled and went in the back to retrieve the blade. I took another look around the shack and was so hollow without the swords on the walls. Three minutes later the man emerged and in both his hands was a black long box and laid it on a table. He opened it and removed the cloth that was over the blade and revealed a true piece of art- a long, slightly curved sword. The hilt was black and white. My bell was attached to the chain at the end, this guy has serious skill.

"Thank you Mr…" I didn't know his name.

"Just call me Mr. Hewley." I carried the sword in my hand.

"Um, if you don't mind me asking, why are you packing everything up? Did you not like the swords you made?"

He nodded his head slowly, "I wasn't making enough money here, so I decided to sell my swords to make up for the pay, I'm not one to sell things that I treasure but I had no choice."

"Do you know where you're going?"

"Maybe Banora, it's a very small place to live but seems like a relaxing place. I hear they have dumb apples there." He went in the back of the shack and came back with a white sheath, "Here, you'll need this." I took it and put the sword into its sheath. Mr. Hewley began to pack stuff away again and took it as my cue to leave. Before I left, there was a plaque on the door.

"_Embrace your dreams. If you want to be a hero you need to have dreams and honor," _I read out loud. I turned back to Mr. Hewley, "I hope you have a safe trip Mr. Hewley!"

He turned his head and nodded politely. I left and held the sword in both of my hands. It was heavy. I had to practically drag my feet as I walked back to the mansion. Good part of this…this may help with my strength training.

An agonizing hour later I made it into my room and plopped on the bed and leaned the sword on my bedside. 'Why did my room have to be upstairs?' I snapped out of my thoughts and went to find Vincent and Lucrecia- haven't seen them in a while. 'Of course! Maybe they're in the library.' I ran downstairs and down the hallway to the library. I opened the door expecting to see them and all I got were books that were stacked on the table. I didn't want to go to the basement at the moment…I hated basements. Oh well. As I walked down stairs into the basement, I heard their voices. Vincent's voice seemed sad and asked Lucrecia why she was looking at information about his father.

They got into an argument and I heard everything. Vincent's footsteps were echoing in the room as their voiced stopped. He came up the stairs and opened the door to let himself out. His aura was in a depressed state and took another step and noticed me. His eyes widened in surprise.

I began to slowly walk towards him and looked up at his face, "I heard everything." I wrapped my arms around his torso and felt him do the same and put his chin on top of my head.

"Thank you."

I was a fool. She was never a doctor. Lucrecia is a scientist. I saw what she did when I would peak into the lab but I always denied it. She was already too deep into my heart. This 'famliy' is as dysfunctional as my real one. Nothing ever changes.

Seven months later a lot of things happened. I turned 14 years old; Vincent began distancing himself from Lucrecia by using me as a distraction. He taught me how to play soccer, and foresaw my sword training. He complimented on me being a natural, which is a good thing because it's hard to please him when it comes to combat. Another thing that I didn't see coming was when Lucrecia stayed with Hojo. I swore that I saw Vincent's' heart break at that moment.

Lucrecia just seems full of surprises because another few weeks later, she became pregnant and started to inject herself with Jenova cells for the sake of science. I saw Vincent snap inside. He wanted to do something about it, Vincent despises human experiments.

Today's training had been a lot harder than usual, since my body was shaking. I gave it my all and lasted well into the night. He gave me a piggyback ride to the inside of the mansion. We usually trained in the back. "Vincent."

"Hm."

"I won't leave you, if you promise not to do the same." He knew who I was referring to- Lucrecia.

"It's alright Daisy. As long as she's happy, that's all that matters. I'll be in the background, just to make sure she won't do something she'll regret." We made it to my room and put me on the ground standing up, "It's late, get to bed alright?" I nodded and he kissed my cheek, then my head and hugged me. His face buried in my black hair. He always did this before I go to 'sleep' but tonight his lips and arms lingered a lot longer than they usually did. He let me go slowly and I went to bed after I changed into my grey PJs. I couldn't get the feeling that something bad was going to happen to him, maybe that's why he took longer than usual. My hand went under my head as I stared at the ceiling.

For the first time in 2 weeks I began to slowly fall asleep, but then I heard a bang. I shot up from the bed and knew it was from the basement. I immediately ran with adrenaline pumping through my veins and almost fell a couple of times before I made it. I sprinted down into the basement and opened the door. I couldn't believe my eyes. Vincent was bleeding heavily on the floor. Lucrecia was yelling at Hojo as I slid next to Vincent and supported his head-his chest was shot. My clothes began to turn red, as were my hands.

"Mr. Valentine?" He would not wake up, "Mr. Valentine?" my voice cracked at the end, "Vincent. Wake up, wake up." My eyes became blurry, "Wake UP!" Both of us were in his blood as it pooled around us. I tried not to cry. I tried so hard. I heard a click behind me. I turned my head slowly and saw Hojo with a gun. It was against my temple and I froze in fear as my grip on Vincent's head tightened somewhat.

"No! If you kill her, I swear I'll kill myself! Project S won't exist!" Lucrecia put herself between me and the gun and pulled me against her.

Hojo was pissed. "Fine, but if I ever see her again, her death won't be as swift," he snarled and left. Lucrecia went to Vincent and started to talk to me in a more calm voice.

"I know that what I've done can't be forgiven, but I can help him. Please trust me Daisy!" Her voice was filled with desperation.

"I forgive you, but I don't know if I can trust you. I want to see him alright, Lucrecia. You hurt him so bad." I looked at the floor, "I'm going to bed."

I left to my room with Vincent's' blood trailing behind me as I walked upstairs to my room. I slept in my bloody clothing and for the first time in a long time, the girl in the tank was in my dreams again, only this time she has red angel wings.

I awoke to a storm and rain, "How appropriate. The mood is set and the scene for today will rise with the curtains. I only hope it's not stained red again."

I closed my eyes to rest and heard Lucrecia's voice in my head, "I'm so sorry."

**I hope that this story is up to your standards. :D**

**I also don't know when I'll be able to update my other story, but hopefully soon.**

**I'd like to know if I'm doing alright or if I need improvement. Reviews are welcome.**


	9. Dealing With a Loss

**I have a poll up for this story. A friend of mine gave me an idea and pondered on it. So why not, but of course it's up to you if you're interested in it. Check it out, it's on my profile and ready to go.**

**I'm also wondering if anyone got the little reference in the last chapter about a certain someone. *Smiles***

_**The One They Call Beautiful**_

Chapter 9

A few days after Vincent was shot I stopped wallowing in the dark. Staying like this is not going to help Lucrecia or Vincent. They need me more than ever now. I knew that he would live, I have to trust in Lucrecia but I'm not sure anymore. Vincent would live, but at a cost. She explained it to me- he would become of something less than a human. Hojo would be in charge and I wanted to put bullets through him. First his legs, then work my way slowly towards his head. I want to see him suffer. Unfortunately he is the only one to help stop Vincent's body from decaying. I despise being so useless.

I've been training harder with my sword and combat skills without Vincent. My skills in books have been increasing as well-since I'm an insomniac I might as well take advantage of it. I want to see Vincent when he wakes up. I'll make sure that his training won't be a waste. I can't lose him, not another person in my life. This is why I hate letting people in, why I despise many things, people lie and they leave. The same story over and over again. Just once, I want to feel as if I belong. I don't know why they even wanted me to stay. I never asked for help, pain, and the fear.

I open my eyes and realize that I slept on my bed, "Hm, how odd." I sat up and stared at my violin case in the corner of my room and stood up. The dusty and spider webs were setting on it. "I haven't touched that thing since the day Vincent saved me." Due to the constant stress I've been putting on myself my body was beginning to malfunction. I looked at the mirror to my right and remembered that last night I cut my hair with the Nodachi. It now rested below my shoulder blades. My hair was a reminder of how much Vincent liked it and said that I should keep it long. The hair I had cut off was still on the ground. I picked it up and threw it in my trashcan and saw something fall from my dresser. It was the white ribbon from Lucrecia. I wanted to, so badly, to burn the damn thing, but that would only remind me of how hurt she was as well. Instead I used it to put my hair up in a braid with it at the end.

No matter how many bad things Lucrecia has done, I cannot do anything but forgive her. I cannot hate her, she was there when I was alone- my first friend. She gave me a place to live, learn and have memories. Never, I could never hurt her. I walked to my lonely violin- it's been almost 3 years. I opened the case and traced over the smooth details and texture of the violin. I laid the violin under my chin and its correct position. So I played, a new piece of song that Vincent would have definitely would have liked.

_5 Months Later_

I walked down into the basement to visit Valentine. Lucrecia always made sure that Hojo was out so I wouldn't get caught while trying to say hi to him or talk to him at least. I descended downstairs with a white thick book in my hand since I still had homework to do. I kept asking myself if I should tell them who I am or not. Keeping them both in the dark is not wise, especially now. 3 years and I've still yet to tell them my real name. Lucky me, Lucrecia said Vincent could hear everything that was going around him, but he would not be able to move to indicate that he had heard me. Occasionally he would open his eyes and close them after a while.

The door creaked open and saw Lucrecia. She smiled sadly at me and waved to enter, "I'm glad you're here, I was about to go get you."

"Lucrecia, you shouldn't over exert yourself. The baby will get hurt. Please, at least sit down-take a small break."

She giggled, "Sometimes I think if you're better off being the father, you worry too much." She joked which got me to smile somewhat.

"See, you should smile more often. It makes you look a lot more beautiful-not that I'm saying that you weren't before of course!" I nodded in understanding. Her legs carried her forward towards Vincent's mako tank. "Vincent…he has the same eyes as his father. They're both so similar that it's scary. The hair and eyes are what strikes your soul." Her voice cracked at the end and tears started to leak, "You asked me once if I had ever lost a life while on the job, the answer was yes, but it was Grimoire Valentine."

"His father."

"Yes. It's my fault for pushing him away, and I may lose him now too."

"I know that now isn't a good time but…when I was in class about a year ago, the teacher called me Ms. Crescent, instead of the name you gave me in disguise" (A/N- I know I didn't put her other fake name in chapter 6 but just go with it). I looked at her, "did you adopt me?"

Lucrecia took her eyes off Vincent, "I was about to sign the papers to make it official, but that was when Hojo shot-"she glanced at the floor, "when I got back from what happened the documents were in the fire of the chimney, it was him who most likely that did it. It was clear and simple. If I adopt you, you die. If you were to cross paths with him…you die. Even if I wanted to and Hojo didn't exist, Shinra would have found a way to destroy you. They want this project safe and a secret."

The depressing mood was awkward. "So, wither way…I'd die. As long as I stay hidden."

"Yes, but let's not dwell on it. So I see you're reading LOVELESS." I looked down at my book and nodded.

"Yeah, but I'm not a big fan of poetry. There is no ending for LOVELESS. I don't understand why our teacher is making us read it." I held the story to her as my white ribbon fell from the book to the ground.

"Really? I think it's interesting." She looked at the time on the computer, "well I believe I should leave you and Vincent to talk. I'll keep a lookout for you." As she left I heard her whisper something directed to Vincent and it was so very familiar, "I'm so sorry."

I turned towards Vincent, "I don't know what to do anymore. I'm so confused with all of this…I'm sorry for not staying with you after you got shot. I just…couldn't say goodbye in case you were going to leave us alone. " My eyes closed as I took a deep breath and let it out as I shook my head, "I wish I could ask for your advice." My eyes wandered to the right of the lab, "I finally played the violin you gave me and I'm making a new song for you. I hope you'll like it. I'm also at the top of my classes now, still training and made first string on the soccer team." My mind wandered to Lucrecia as I sat on the floor, "I'm sorry, I'm being selfish. All I'm doing is talking about my me, but then again you're probably just ignoring me while thinking about what kind of harsh training you're going to put me through when you get out…right?" I chuckled lightly.

I tucked my knees and book under my chin, "You're father sounds handsome. At least I know where all your good looks come from." I joked a little, "I know that you'll never think of me as much as Lucrecia and I can live with that and dare I say I'm a little jealous of her. She's so beautiful, while I'm just pale and without beauty. I'd say that our roles are like beauty and the beast. You're becoming less human while Lucrecia…is Belle… The day you told me that you'd stay in the background and imply that you'd love her from afar," I sighed, "You reminded me of my favorite flower –the lotus. They wish to bloom but no other person I know of will allow them to. But don't worry Vincent," I stood up, "I'll help you bloom, just like you helped me. I swear that I'll try to help Lucrecia. If I can't then…I-I'll help her baby and you Vincent. Even if it's only a little. Like you, I'll love you from afar, just as you love Lucrecia from the same distance."

Lucrecia came in running out of nowhere. "Quickly! Hide! He's coming." She grabbed my hand and led me into a cabinet under Vincent's tank, filled with glass containers, "Don't move."

"Oh hello Dr. Hojo. D-did you need something?"

"…"He ignored her and went to collect notes and proceeded to leave but noticed a white ribbon on the floor and the cabinet slightly opened. He was staring right at me as I peered through the crack. I shifted a little and accidentally dropped a glass container, shattering it. 'SHIT!'

"It seems that we have a rodent infestation." He took out a gun from his coat.

'What the hell! Does this guy always carry one with him?' I clutched to my LOVELESS book close to my body while my left hand was covering my mouth.

"BANG!"

I felt it make me go back somewhat and hurt my chest. Was I bleeding?

"If you find the rodent, please clean it up, I have other business to attend to." He left out the door with a smirk. He knew it was me.

The cabinet door opened to find a crying Lucrecia and took me out. She checked me for injuries in a hurry. "Thank god you're safe."

I looked down and stared in shock at my LOVELESS book. It had the bullet stuck in there. I began to hyperventilate as I clutched to Lucrecia and we both sat on the floor. She calmed me down and took me a few minutes to breath normal again. I still had the adrenaline and I snapped. I began to laugh in hysteria. If I hadn't put my book at all in front of me, it would have hit my heart. I could have died.

**Hope you enjoyed! ^_^**

**I couldn't decide on how to end it so I chose this.**

**When I start school I won't be able to update as much as I'd like, but no worries I'm uploading my chapters as fast as possible to make up for the future.**

**R & R**


	10. Be My Surprise?

**Yay! I'm so happy people are reading my story! It just makes me want to write more. I'm also going to go back to chapters 1-5 and edit them and add more to the story since they were all short and sounded rushed. I've also started a new story called "My Sanctuary" check it out.**

**Enjoy!**

_**The One They Call Beautiful**_

_Chapter 10_

After my laughing subsided, Lucrecia still held me in her arms and both sitting on the cold tile floor. I chuckled a little bit in her lab coat, "Looks like LOVELESS took the bullet for me even though I said I wasn't a fan of it," I smiled softly and looked up at Lucrecia.

"It's alright Daisy, I'm here." About an hour passed and we stood up and went in front of the computer chairs to sit down for a while.

"So, do you know what you're going to name your baby?" I asked her followed by an awkward silence.

"No, not yet, but I do like the name Sephiroth, what do you think?" she turned to me with a thoughtful expression.

"That's up to you; I have no right to dwell on that subject. Although it does seem like a unique name." She smiled at me and nodded. "So, you already know that it's a boy right?"

"Yeah," Lucrecia placed a hand on her bulged stomach, "I read that by now babies kick a lot but…mine doesn't. Apparently the baby only kicks when he's excited and so far it's only happened when you're around, Daisy."

"Ummm, may I?" I gestured to her stomach curious as to how the baby would react.

"Yeah, sure."

I placed my hand on her stomach and waited for a few seconds, but nothing happened. I was about to remove my hand, then all of a sudden…I felt a kick. Lucrecia seemed surprised and looked at me. My eyes were wide in surprise as well. I glided my hand over her stomach to a different area and could feel the baby shifting following my touch and when I stopped another kick was felt. My eyes felt as though they were going to pop out as Lucrecia started to laugh.

"It looks like my baby loves you." She smiled sadly at her stomach and put her hand on top of mine and we both felt him kick.

"With those kinds of kicks, I wouldn't be surprised if he wanted to play soccer with me." I joked trying to make Lucrecia smile. What kind of baby doesn't even kick for their own mother? I shook my head and removed my hand.

"Daisy," her voice was sad, "I need a favor."

"Yeah, sure, what do you need?"

"Please," she closed her eyes and lay back onto her chair, "be Sephiroth's guide. I have a feeling that he will need one, especially in the future." I saw a tear escape her eye.

"You've been having visions of him again, haven't you?" Her eyes were still closed, "If this is what you want, then I accept. Besides," I got up from the chair, "I was going to be his friend either way if you did or didn't ask me to. I have a question though," Lucrecia opened her eyes and they seemed lively again. "What if Hojo sends the Turk on me? You know, the brown haired dude. I read his profile, the guys' name is Veld."

"You never let that stop you from befriending the other Turks around here."

"Yes, but this one is in charge of all the other Turks. That and he was Valentines friend. I doubt he even knows that this person," I motioned to the slightly modified Vincent, "is the real Vincent. Hell I haven't even met the guy."

"Then use your imagination." Lucrecia answered cheekily.

I nodded my head, "It's getting late, I believe that we should go to bed, especially in your condition."

"Says the one who's an insomniac, hardly eats, and believes that just because she's Latina that she doesn't need food for soccer," her eyebrow rose, "you're not a robot you know."

"…touche." I replied in a defeated tone. We both said goodnight and I left the lab before her. As I descended up the basement, I thought to myself, 'Why would the baby kick when I laid my hand on her stomach, but wouldn't for his own mom.' I shook my head out of my musings and kept going to my room...

"How the hell did she know I was Latina?" I asked out loud. 'Curse her awesome observation techniques.'

_2 Months Later_

_Lucrecia POV_

Every time I look at Daisy I just want to take her away from all of this and run away. So we could live a normal life and bring Vincent along. His body has been responding a lot more positive ever since I put Chaos inside of him. I told Daisy about the desperate measures I had to do, she seemed hesitant but I know she was angry inside. Daisy knew what would happen if Vincent's body kept decaying. She passed Biology AP; I didn't need to explain to her since her eyes got more depressed.

I miss how the three of us would joke around, the small picnics, and watching her train with Vincent. She doesn't even visit Phoebe anymore at her house. Her life was a contradiction- here she is living in a mansion with unbelievable education, knows how to defend herself very well, a place to call home and people-person- to care for her. That's how it's supposed to be; instead she has to look behind her back for Shinra and Hojo, and possibly Veld if she got on his bad side.

"This life is not normal for a teenage girl. Then again I guess her life was never normal to begin with, was it, Vincent?" I stared at him on the metal table. He was strapped down with leather around his body. Chaos had started to take control of his body so he was moved here. "I'm so scared; I don't know what to do anymore. I can't lose her too Vincent…Today is her fifteenth birthday." I reached into the pocket of my lab coat and pulled out a small jewelry box. "I saw this when the Turks began cleaning out your room. It was in a bag that said 'happy birthday Daisy'. They were about to throw it away but I took out the box that was her gift. Don't worry though, I haven't opened it yet. You'll be able to give it to her yourself when you wake up. She stopped celebrating her birthday and holidays the day you didn't open your eyes." I put the small jewelry box back inside of my lab coat.

"I know you can hear me and you're most likely infuriated with me, but this was the only way that I could save you. I'm sure that you're eager to see Daisy again; it's been two and a half weeks after all."

_Daisy POV_

"I swear to you, I'm becoming crazy!" I was laying on my bed talking out loud to my violin and Nodachi. "Then again if you talk to things…I'm officially insane." I sighed in frustration and threw my pillow across the room. "But I'm not hearing voices and not trying to kill anybody yet so, I should be alright." I stated calmly. I've been doing this since my near death experience with Hojo. I believe that I've been traumatized more than once now. Number one; my shoulder got dislocated, I was stabbed, and almost bled to death. Number two; I saw Vincent dying…in my arms…in a pool of blood…and almost got shot in the head. Number three; I almost died again by getting shot in the chest from the same nutty scientist but LOVELESS took the bullet. According to my calculations I shouldn't be insane…how gaia just _loves_ me.

"What do you think LOVELESS?" I turned my head to the ruined copy of the book-I never replaced the damn thing. "This isn't normal but, onto other things. Eric!" yes I named my Nodachi Eric, "do you think that I should tell Lucrecia and Vincent my name?"

"…"

"…"

Eric slid down the wall it was leaning on and now laid flat on the floor.

"Good enough." I shrugged and got out of bed. There were footsteps then I heard a knocking at my door. A black crow appeared outside of my window and began pecking at the glass-really need to lay off Edgar Allen Poe. "Come in, the door is open."

The door knob turned slowly as my heart was speeding and the blood through my veins intensified…and Lucrecia poked her head through the door. "He's not in at the moment. Come on! It's been almost three weeks since you last saw Vincent!" she smiled and went out the door.

I sighed in relief, as my heart was pounding. "No more Edgar at night." I mumbled and was about to walk out of the room, but looked back at Eric and the bell. For some reason the silver bell called out to me, so I crouched in front of Eric and unhooked it. I held it in the palm of my hand and made a fist around it, keeping the bell there and walked out to find Lucrecia waiting for me, "you shouldn't stress yourself-already 8 months along and you still do this…" the awkward silence helped ease our anxiety and began walking to the basement, "…are you still getting those visions of your baby?" This was a touchy subject for her, but this had to be discussed, "you should know that I'll help you Lucrecia. Don't think that you're alone."

"Daisy…why are you saying this to me?"

A memory came into my mind when I first met Lucrecia and I smirked, "Because I care." Our conversation stopped as we arrived in front of Vincent's tank. He had to go back inside or else chaos would go on a rampage again. I turned to her, "Déjà vu, Right?" she nodded. "I think it's time to tell you my name…the both of you." I squeezed the bell in my hand and closed my eyes while breathing slowly. I opened them and walked to Vincent and stood in the middle of them.

"I've kept my name hidden from the both of you for over 3 years. I honestly wasn't ever going to tell you guys but…the more I stayed and bonded with you, the more you two dwelled deeper into my heart." I clutched my heart with the bell in my fist and turned to face the man in the tank. "I didn't mean it when I told you that I'd reveal my name to you the day you were on your deathbed," I felt so atrocious for what I said that day, "and yet here you are, fighting to stay alive while on the brink of death." I swallowed and let a tear fall and wiped it away and sharply turned my head to face Lucrecia Crescent and Vincent Valentine.

"My name is Dawn." I stated simply, "A simple name for a complex mind." I opened my palm and for a moment I thought I saw a red feather in place of my silver bell. I knew that was an evil omen.

**So hopefully you have enjoyed this story so far and wish to have some sort of feedback. I am nowhere near the end of this story and will take any kind of advice, as I wish to improve my writing.**


	11. The Meeting

**YAY! Chapter 11! Finally! And thank you to those who have reviewed, faved, and alerted! I'm glad that you have stayed with me even though it takes me a long time just to upload one chapter. **

**So I hope you enjoy this one too!**

_**The One They Call Beautiful**_

_Chapter 11_

~Dawn POV~

'It's been a month since I told them my name. I feel lighter. Sword training has been a lot easier and got my old friend back. Somewhat. His body stopped dying because of Chaos and even though I may not like it, I still wish he could have come back some other way without that thing inside of him. It's refreshing, but for how long until this ruse is over?' I ask. It was over yesterday. Nothing lasts forever in this cursed place. Nibelheim. At least that's what I've noticed.

I'm outside and it begins to snow as I ponder my thoughts. All I'm wearing are white snow boots, a pair of blue skinny jeans and a white sleeved shirt. The white ribbon in my hair, still in its usual preference- a braid to the side. My eye sight has been diminishing leading me to wear white rimmed glasses.

It's unusual when I look back to when Lucrecia and Vincent looked after me. "I would have never guessed in only less than four years that I would ever wear this much white, I looked at my sword 'Eric', still in its sheath and I removed it. "I wonder," I stared at my reflection in the 68 inch sword, "if I tried to assassinate him, would he kill me first or would I get him?" I sheathed Eric and turned to the garden of the lotus flowers and bent down to pick one and inserted it into my hair. "I still haven't forgotten what I said Valentine," I looked up at the mansion in front of me.

"How many Turks does it take for me to kill before Hojo sends the big bad wolf against me?" I put the Nodachi on my back, I calmly walked into the mansion, but the killing intent is strong around me. I'm not stupid. I knew that there would be many Turks- especially since Lucrecia had given birth yesterday and was told that the baby died-that Sephiroth had died. I knew better than that. Sephiroth was still alive. I had to give him back to her, but the question still remains, where in the mansion is he?

The baby has to get out of here at all cost. Hojo already started injecting the baby with things I'd rather not know. I saw him do it yesterday when I was peeking out the door from my room and saw Hojo carrying the newborn out of another door down the hall. He injected something brightly colored into the baby's veins. Sephiroth let out a wail of cries.

I saw those green eyes that Sephiroth had. So innocent and was already being corrupted by the devil. That sick twisted bastard!

My muses were interrupted as I saw a Turk about to pass by me. Not sparing a glance towards me until we were next to each other and made eye contact. His eyes pierced my gaze and reminded me of Valentine when he was serious. This was the Turk in charge of the other ones-Veld. He was aging pretty fast, and I could see wrinkles forming on his face.

He was sent in immediately to oversee 'Project S' when Valentine "mysteriously" disappeared, but I never really met him since he was always shadowing Hojo. This is the second time that I've met him. His stone cold face-like everybody else's- is just a mask and I will rip it off. That is if Shinra is willing to do something to me. Veld had told them about 'Daisy' but not Dawn. We had a mutual understanding, if you fuck with me, I sure as hell won't mind fucking you over 3 times harder- even if it means I have to kill you.

Veld pretended that nothing happened. He knew what I was up to, but kept quiet. He has seen me cut down people without a moment's hesitance. I proved it when an assassination was ordered on Lucrecia- the same day we met.

~Flashback~

"Lucrecia, we have to go now. It isn't safe here." We were both at a graveyard to respect the anniversary of Vincent's dead father. It was night and pouring rain. I don't mind getting wet but Lucrecia needs to do these kinds of things in the morning and without me getting wet in the process. All I was wearing were short shorts, a pair of vans shoes, a plain black t-shirt and a long red scarf that reached the back of my knees.

"Just a few minutes Dawn." My right leg was tapping the dirt ground furiously as I was getting drenched in the ridiculously hard rain and looked over at the muddy hill to our left. The lightning and thunder was a sight to see though.

"I should've brought an umbrella." I mumbled under my breath as I looked over to a very dry Lucrecia. I kept sheathing and unsheathing my sword in discontent. I am not a very patient person…especially in cemeteries. Always have and always will.

"I'm done now," Lucrecia stood up from the grave slowly with her umbrella.

"Let's go, you know how superstitious I get around graveyards," I paused, "especially at night."

"I'm sorry I dragged you here. I just- didn't want to be alone." She dropped a white flower on top of his tombstone.

"No need to apologize, come on, it's almost midnight." As we walked side by side on the dirt pathway I couldn't help but feel watched. My eyes flickered to my right and saw movement. Tonight was going to be fun. "Lucrecia, don't look at me. We're being followed. When I tell you to go, run away as fast as your legs can take and head for cover."

The graveyard was silent; the only noise was the water pounding into the ground along with our footsteps. Then I heard the crunching noises of grass moving towards us. "One…" it became louder and the adrenaline began pumping into my veins of the excitement of the chase, "two…" my hand went to the hilt of my sword. "…" it wasn't until I heard a scrape of metal that I cursed mentally, "three!" Lucrecia tried to run as fast as she could towards an open mausoleum and slightly closed it. The daggers managed to slice against both of my cheeks. 'Shit!' I ran for cover to my right and dove behind another tombstone as a wave of daggers stuck into the rock. "Sorry you had to be in the middle of this Mr.-" I squinted as I tried to read the name in the dark, "Ciel Phantomhive…huh, weird name." I dislodged a knife and threw it into the direction of the skilled assassin.

"My eye!" I smirked as he screamed out in pain.

Thud.

"…I think I threw it too hard." I looked behind the tombstone and saw two Turks with guns running towards me…and shooting at me…well Shinra, you suck at background checks. I removed my sword from its cover and brought out a gun with my right hand. It's not my first option but it'll have to do for now. I sprinted out when they had to reload their guns and tackled one to the ground over the muddy hill but my sword got caught in one of the bushes nearby. The both of us quickly got up and tackled each other. He began to cock the gun but I quickly went under him and hit the back of his shoulder with an open palm. There was a sickening crack followed by a grunt. As the gun fell I flipped him over me onto his back. I grabbed my sword and stabbed it into his forehead. My first kill-not counting the chocobo-and for some reason I don't feel like throwing up. I don't feel doubt, sadness, or anything else. I'm just confused how I could do that without remorse. Those lifeless brown eyes of his just staring at me with surprise, as he did not know a 15 year old would have killed him. "I still have to deal with the other one." I looked up at the top of the hill and there she was…with a gun pointing at me. "Shit." I took Eric out of the corpse and ran to the bushes and collected my gun. Unfortunately I got shot in the leg and boy that was displeasing. I limped as I took cover behind the trees and peered at the woman. "Crap, she's a sniper," the wound was numb with pain and I bit my lip to prevent me from screeching in pain. Then I heard a clink…Grenade…"Fuck my life."

I saw it soar past me about 10 trees in front of me. One second later it went off. I was blown away and my back hit a different tree due to the impact. I lifted my head up slowly as there was a ringing sound in my ear and I felt confused. Everything looked blurry and I couldn't hear as more grenades were being thrown randomly around the graveyard. "You've desecrated the dead enough Turk." I elevated back onto my feet and grabbed the handgun and stayed hidden behind the tombstone. I peeked out and saw that the female Turk was getting irked at my ability to hide so well. "I'll make sure that you go boom." I raised the gun shakily. My vision was blurry so I began to breathe slowly and surely my eyesight was a bit bearable. I had to make this one count or else my position will be given away. I felt nervous and I began to shake erratically again. "Fuck." I pulled the trigger and closed my eyes. After the shot echoed I opened my eyes and the girl smirked in my direction and began to get another grenade. I glared and went out in the open with rage that I actually failed to kill her. "Fucking bitch!" I yelled and aimed the gun at the grenade in her hand, and pulled the trigger.

KABOOM!

I saw how her body came apart even through the pouring rain and darkness. "I did not see that coming." I heard a crunching noise again and turned around with the gun aimed at whoever was in the shadows.

What do you know? It was Veld who came out of the shadows with Lucrecia behind him. "You're alright!" She sprinted to me and hugged me.

I let out a grunt as she made contact with my injured leg. She backed up and looked down with a gasp. "It's not serious, just a flesh wound." I looked to Veld, "Can't you be good at your job and make background checks? I swear, you're the leader are you not? Act like it."

Veld only looked at me with disinterest and ignored my taunts."Dr. Crescent," his gaze went to the doctor, "we must leave now. Dr. Hojo will get furious if the experiment goes wro-."

_Schick!_

My blade connected his gun. If he had reacted any slower, his head would have been mine. "Don't you _ever _call Sephiroth an experiment; he is a human being and will be born from two humans. It would do you well to never call him that, even if that demented scientist does." My blade was back in its cover and still he did not make any expression, "if you insult him again, I will cut you down!" I grabbed Lucrecia's hand and dragged her behind me, away from the dead bodies and graveyard.

~Flashback End~

Here I stand in front of a long white hallway with a door at the other end. I heard the screams of Sephiroth behind it. 'The non-stop experimentation.' I thought closing my eyes.

"Hold on sweetie, I'm coming." I whispered in the white hallway and snapped my eyes open. I took one step and the security system came online. An abundance of red lasers appeared in front of the door in a criss-cross pattern. If I touch that, and a limb gets cut off. There was an eerie silence for a few seconds until it moved towards me with great speed. 'I will not fail. I can't afford to fail.' I waited for the lasers to get closer and I sprinted towards the lasers.

**Wow! I can't believe that I finished this chapter! I feel so accomplished. Sorry again for the wait. Hopefully you can forgive me. After chapter 12 it's going to get the story moving a bit faster. Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave comments ^_***


	12. My Failure

**Hello my readers! I know that it's been a looooong while –two months-but I haven't had time to actually type my story. So I give you chapter 12! **

_**My Sanctuary**_

_Chapter 12_

"I swear to god I've seen this in Resident Evil 4 with Leon." I said to myself as I slide under the red beams threatening to slice me into pieces. I hear my heart beating at an exponential rate as the beam goes right above my nose. I got up from my sliding position and notice that the door is right in front of me. My face lights up in excitement but I hear a crackling sounds behind me. I turn around and see the beams form into tight squares and rush towards me. "Looks like I'm taking the vents." I jumped and stuck my hidden knife in the ceiling to support myself as I moved the vent above me to slide inside. The beam managed to slice off part of the bottom of my shoe.

Damn…Good thing I haven't gotten a growth spurt yet. I can barely fit inside of this. I looked down and saw Turks approach the hallway I was just inside. I have to keep on moving forward. I slowly crawled in order to not make any sounds- unfortunately even my weapons are against me. I heard a 'clink' sound and turned my head back to where I came from. I had forgotten the knife that was stuck in the ceiling. The sound of guns being loaded was echoing with ammo. I scurried through the air vents as bullets started firing behind me and got closer with each passing second. As one nicked my heel, the bottom of the tight crawling space fell under me as I turned left and plummeted onto a Turk.

I looked down and noticed that we were in a different area and I knocked the Turk unconscious. "Oh. Shit." It was Veld. Damn me and my clumsiness…I was going to use him for directions.

"Let's see what's behind door number one." I said to myself and opened a random door; my eyes widened and closed it immediately. "If I survive this I'm going to need a lot of therapy."

I shook my head and ran through the next entrance and unfortunately for me I found more Turks.

"…you're the one who breached the security?" The female Turk blinked at me as if it were a joke. "You're just a kid. A kid who thinks can take out a Turk."

"Correction, I'm a teenager-" I sheathed my Nodachi and took on my stance from when Vincent trained me, once upon a time, "-that has nothing to lose." I moved in for the kill.

222222

"Note to self, when I need to kill someone, do it quickly or else back up will come." I said as I ran through the halls with the bloodied Nodachi in my hand and about 5 Turks behinds me. It doesn't help when I have bullet wounds on my right leg and left arm either -hey nobody said I had to be perfect- I need to get rid of them as soon as possible…or else I'm done for. I turned around and shot at the ceiling which caused the chandelier to fall upon them. "What kind of an idiot randomly hangs a chandelier…" my eyes widen, "it would be Hojo." I say to myself and take off again to the basement of where the experimentations usually happen.

As I descended towards the basement I saw Hojo leaving Sephiroth's room and with data results in his hand as he smiled to himself. "I swear, I'll get you out somehow." I looked back at the door I just came through and felt a cold chill creeping at my spine and felt goose bumps on my back with a shudder. Something bad was going to happen.

I kept going towards his room and opened the door carefully. There in the black crib was the baby I had sworn I would get to his mother. He had wisps of silver hair growing on his head and soft supple skin that looked exactly like Lucrecia's. I gently picked up the sleeping baby boy and supported his head. His eyes slowly opened with terror thinking I was the scientist but immediately turned innocent with a hint of happiness. His green eyes reminded me of Lucrecia's as I held him close to me. His hand reached from the blankets he was wrapped snuggly in and went for the flower that was in my hair. "You can have it if you'd like Sephiroth. Think of it as a welcoming present to this world." I whispered to him and kissed his forehead. "We have to leave and meet your mother alright?" I said as I covered his head with the blanket so the cold wouldn't disturb him. I ran through the halls of the basement but I accidentally took the wrong way and ended up in front of an empty tank filled with Mako.

"Oh it looks like I didn't have to hunt you down. Instead you came to me." My body felt as though it shut down. I slowly turned around with Sephiroth still in my arms and a scowl formed on my face. "And you've already been acquainted with him as well." Hojo motioned to Sephiroth as my grip grew more protective over the newborn baby.

"He needs his mother. He'll grow into someone who isn't stable." I said to him as I remembered Lucrecia telling me about having visions of her son.

"That's where you come in. I'm going to need someone who will share the same fate as he and need training to become the perfect weapon." Hojo's voice became snarky and eyed my body up and down.

I ran toward the open entrance behind him as he began to laugh hysterically and I managed to trip over a few times and ended up going through an unknown door and locked it behind me. As I looked down at the baby he smiled at me and gurgled a little. "Yeah, you're laughing now. Wait until he comes down here… where exactly is here anyways?" I looked up and noticed control panels up a flight of black stairs and large amounts of Mako under the railings. "I sure as hell don't want to end up in there." I kept walking up the stairs and noticed a tank with a person inside of it. "What the hell kind of shit have you been messing with Hojo?" I asked myself as I leaned up against the tank and read the name "Jenova". I could have sworn I saw her open her eyes at me and glare. I noticed the similarities between her and Sephiroth. The next thing I know there are Turks surrounding me with their guns at me.

"I can't have you letting Lucrecia know about her son being alive now can I?" A Turk came towards me and took Sephiroth away from me but not before stabbing me in the back with a knife. He immediately started crying as if he were being tortured. "It seems that he's already attached to you." Hojo commented as the Turk started to carry the baby away from the area and the other Turks ordered me to go around "Jenova" and stand next to the railing. They disarmed me of my weapons and I could feel the same eerie feeling of death crawl up my skin.

"I'll see you in hell." I commented to Hojo.

"Not likely dear. You're going to be my new experimenting toy." My eyes widened and was about to run but I felt bullets entering my body. My body slapped against the rail as it went limp and only supported by my arms.

"NOOOOOOOO!" I heard a female cry out in the distance. I felt someone lift up my head. "What did you do?!" I laughed in my head at the irony of it all. Had she come a few seconds earlier, she would have seen her son. "Dawn! Please don't leave me! Please!" Her begging only became futile to me. "I'm so sorry! DAWN! I should have adopted you! I could have protected you!" No Lucrecia, you couldn't have…especially with Hojo against us.

"He's…still…alive" I coughed up blood and my eyes went to the back of my head.

"I-I don't understand." Her voice became more desperate as blood started to drip from her white coat. The last thing I thought of was the green eyes that haunted me and too feeble to fight for him against the Turk. I imagined him in my arms protecting him…It's a shame I had to end like this.

222222

_'WH-where am I?' All I could hear were murmurs of two people. One sounded female and the other was male. They were arguing…about a project…number two. The last thing I remember was a pair of small green eyes and they were crying. Red liquid was coming out of my mouth as I desperately tried to hold a small body next to mine._

_ I could barely open my eyelids. They felt so heavy. Light shined through my water tank as I tried to move any part of my body. I was paralyzed. My eyes were starting to sting regardless of my light mask; it was the only thing that covered me. As my head moved down I noticed that I was naked with my legs crossed at my ankles and arms crossed enough to cover my chest. Everything hurt, my body and mind- I felt so exhausted._

_ Both of them stopped arguing when they heard me and looked towards my tank with their startled expressions. The ugly male smiled creepily and turned his full body to me. I saw a nametag but unfortunately was unable to read it when he folded his arms and walked towards me._

_ His eyes are what gave him away. I've never seen such evil and disgusting aura on anyone before. His white lab coat flapped behind him and eyes as they were stalking me…analyzing me…studying me…nothing but a plaything._

_ "So," his voice was disturbing, "you're finally awake." I flinched as his hand came up to the glass of my tank and started to rub up and down. He is evil, all I want to do is kill him._

_ Professor Hojo," the female sounded nervous and weak, "just please stop doing that! You're scaring her. "Please…" her voice began to crack, "I beg of you, stop experimenting on her!"_

_ "Why? It was your idea after all to do this to your "daughter". I told you not to let her in but no you just had to be the sweet, loving Lucrecia. You wouldn't deny her the freedom she wanted." He sneered. "I still don't understand why you took that brat in, the first place! Wait a minute, I know. You're only using her as a replacement for the boy aren't you?"_

_ The woman flinched at the harsh tone of his voice._

_ 'So this woman is my mother? But not by blood apparently.'_

_ "Be quiet." The woman's voice sounded hostile._

_ "She'll be more worthy than that Ex-Turk and just maybe-"_

_ "NO! I won't allow another person to become like that again, especially not Dawn!"_

_ 'Dawn, that's my name. Dawn.'_

_ "No? My how I admire your spirit, but unfortunately all good things must come to an end. She will be my next project and I will do whatever is necessary to make sure that this one does not fail me. She has already managed to survive the other tests, what's a few hundred more?" The mad scientist pulled out a remote control "Goodnight," he smirked, "number two."_

_222222_

Five Years Later

"Dawn!" Sephiroth woke me up and saved me from another nightmare. "What do you dream about that always ends up in you screaming?" His childish curiosity is what always made me laugh but I saw concern in those five year old eyes of his. I chuckled and patted his head and got up from my bed. I turned on the light and revealed a boy of five years old with sad green eyes staring at me.

My body unconsciously went into the bathroom and closed the door. As I extended my arms to support myself on the counter and stare at my ageless face in the mirror. My hair grew longer and parts of it were white due to the stress of the experimentations. I still remember the day Lucrecia committed suicide. She couldn't deal with the loss of Vincent, her baby and me.

Knock, knock.

"I'll be out in a moment Sephiroth." How completely ironic. I'm supposed to be taking care of him but he's the one who ends up checking on me. "I miss you Vincent. I want you take me away from my hell." I whisper as my eyes turn glossy. All I am to Hojo is a guinea pig to test out the experiments out on first. If he deems it good enough, the injections goes to Sephiroth. The only person I can confide in is Professor Gast Faremis. He has been the only one helping me and Sephiroth when the injections are too rough on our bodies and screaming in agony. How I despise Hojo and his mind. How I wish to run away from all of this, but I promised Lucrecia that I would take care of her son and so I shall, but not without a price. "Everything has a price." I gripped the counter even harder when I remembered the tubes going into my body and the burning of my skin.

I wiped the tears away and wet my face with cold water. Today was supposed to be my 20th Birthday but I'm stuck inside a 15 year old body…permanently.

I opened the door and there stood Sephiroth. "Come on, let's get you back into bed and in your room."

He nodded no and frowned, "I want to sleep with you. I keep on having scary dreams."

"Alright Sephiroth. Hup, hup(1)." I said as I got into the bed first and motioned him to come under the covers. As he lay by my body I would always trace my fingers through his hair lightly in order for him to go to sleep. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

"I-I keep hearing voices in my head. She says that she's my mother." He responded timidly and quietly.

"Oh?" I knew that whatever this being was, always tried to influence him. "What's her name?" He never tells me the name, he'd always change the subject but this time…he was truly terrified as his body shook in my grasp.

"J-Jenova."

As I heard that name come out from his lips, I started to cry silently. I remember that 'thing' when I first held Sephiroth. "Dawn, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine Sephiroth. Just go to sleep." I held him tighter to me because I was afraid for Sephiroth. I was truly afraid of what Sephiroth may become if I don't show him the right path.

XXXXxXXXX

**So what do you think? I know it took me FOREVER but I am seriously sorry about the wait. I hope that this chapter is up to your standards! Feel Free to Review! And thank you to my patient readers!**

**Hup, hup- it was an expression used on me when I was a child and had nightmares. That usually meant "don't cry".**


	13. The Beginnings of a War

_**The One They Call Beautiful**_

_Chapter 13_

The teenager that stands before me in the cold winter snow, is no longer the same innocent little boy that I had helped raise. There he is -Sephiroth at age 15. The same age I unfortunately stopped aging, I should've been 30-no 25-no…35 years old by now, right? I don't know anymore.

His skills at first were dull when I began his training, however when I gave him lessons on how to handle a sword, he was honestly…really bad. I had to help him with his stamina and strength. Don't get me wrong, he had it but the way he handled his enhancements was catastrophic; however the speed he possesses is overwhelming. I later learned that he was not right-handed, but left-handed instead.

Anyways, as it turns out-he improved greatly throughout the few years and Jenova is at fault for that. I'd say that he's a genius when it comes to battle plans and such. I should've known better though, I ignored the signs of insanity in his eyes. Those eyes, green with a spark of madness when he'd get angry. He was breed for this type of life, one full of madness, murder, and sins in this crazy but beautiful world. One of the few good things that happened is that the voiced in his head stopped, but at the cost of having violent outburst due to the Mako injections. I would get confused since he was the one who was born with it running through his veins, but it only causes him to black out. Crazy shit I have to deal with, but as long as he isn't going around killing anyone, then I'm happy.

I held my Nodachi at my right side and brought it up below my eyes in a downward angle. Sephiroth went into a similar stance to mine with a short katana sword, "Hmph, at this rate you're going to need a longer sword if you keep growing like that Sephiroth." He said nothing and could see he was concentrating on my body movements. "Go!"

We both appeared in the middle of the battlefield as the rapid clashing of steel began. What felt like minutes were actually hours of sweat, blood and _maybe _tears? Fear- that is what courses through my body as it tingles with every meeting of our swords. I tell him what his mistakes are and the next time he comes at me even harder. The training that took me many years to master- he's done it in less time than I to complete. His speed of grasping everything so quickly, it's remarkable but I must keep myself from being distracted. I can barely surpass him, but then again he is the student and whoever heard of the pupil _not _surpassing their teachers?

I knocked the sword out of his hand, spinning in the air and into the ravines dark water as I held the Nodachi to his neck. "Looks like I'm going to need a new one." His eyes held laughter as he looked into my red eyes and smirked. I sighed and nodded my head at his playfulness.

"You know maybe you shouldn't have 'accidentally' let me take out your sword until I get back from my mission. Now you have nothing to practice with while I'm gone." I finished my sentence and almost laughed at his twitching silver eyebrow.

"Mission?" He gritted his through his teeth. His annoyance was that of a little child when his toy is taken away.

"I thought I had already told you Sephiroth, or were you daydreaming again about the baby chocobo again?"

Sephiroth lightly blushed at Dawn's words – he had been caught earlier that week trying to sneak in a baby chocobo into the premises and I forced him to return it into its habitat. "No. I haven't the slightest idea of what you are talking about." Sephiroth didn't waver at all, man this boy can grow up to be some sort of con-artist. He's good at lying, and getting what he wants by manipulating the person but not me, I was the one who raised him.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night Sephiroth." I slightly smiled at his embarrassed expression. "Look I'll only be gone for a few days and you can keep yourself busy by taking care of the baby chocobo you thought you could sneak in without my knowing of it...again." I shook my head and turned to leave.

"Dawn," I paused and faced the extremely tall teenager, "why do I keep on getting older, but…you just stay young?" There was complete silence as the snow fell upon us. "Did Hojo do something to you before I was born?"

"…" I did not respond and only looked to my left to face the back of the mansion, the place where my cherished ones were supposed to love me and promise that nothing bad would happen to me. The place that the man lived to cause destruction-fuckin' Hojo. "I'll admit, what's happening to me isn't normal, but it's also something that I didn't have a choice in the matter. Understand that my hell can be compared to yours and unfortunately yours is bigger than mine. I'm not going to say 'Mine is worse than yours' or 'I've had a harder life than you' because I don't know what your future holds." Liar. "All I can tell you is that I am unable to age but I am not immortal, and who knows, maybe you are too." I went on my tip-toes and lightly patted his head. "I'll be in Wutai for the next three days and don't cause any trouble. I'm not going to bail you out while my mission is going on, got it?"

"Yes."

I nodded and left towards the mansion. The dread in my stomach increased as I walked away from Sephiroth. I had lied to the boy, I knew his future, and I knew the monster that will come out and the lives that will be lost in Nibelheim. I'm sorry Lucrecia, but I'm not sure if I can help him but I will try.

666

The water stream seems peaceful as my footsteps crunch the frozen grass and make my way to Wutai. My white cloak getting wet at the ends due to the snow, the chirping of birds are not known due to the winter and I see that there are a few frozen dead animals along the water. "Poor things couldn't make it back to their families." I hear feet crunching the snow behind me and turn around with my sword just in time to deflect a spear like weapon. It's a Wutai soldier, "I have come to speak to your leader, Godo Kisaragi and I mean no harm to-" I get cut off from my sentence as another warrior tried to cut me down the middle. I have time to jump back and away from both of them and I put my sword slowly on the ground and stay in a crouched position in case they attack me again. "I did not come here to fight," I say with more force in my voice, "I am not here to cause any trouble, only to seek an audience with your leader, nothing more and nothing less." A third warrior emerges from the bushes and whistles at the two that attacked me. Both put their weapons away as the controlling one comes forward slowly towards me. He lifts up my weapon and puts it on his back then whistles again. The two that went against me go to my side and grab me by each of my arms then tie my wrists together and lift me up the ground.

The man spoke to me, "We do not trust outsiders, much less one who has a weapon and wishes to speak to our leader," he grabbed my chin to make eye contact with him, "These are just precautions, but be warned, if there is any suspicious movement, if you ever slip off to anywhere you are not authorized, most of all if you harm anyone, you will pay dearly with your life. Understood?" He fears my red eyes, I can see it.

"Wouldn't have it any other way." He let me go but the two at my side did not as they put a dark black bag over my head. They began to lead me to their home, now all I had to do was make sure that I survive and don't lose my temper, which would be bad.

We arrived at the entrance of Wutai and when the doors opened I immediately heard the running of footsteps and felt something sharp poking my stomach. My body was patted down and was being searched for hidden weapons. After they removed my hidden blades from my stomach and upper arm, the bag was removed. My eyes squinted under the harsh brightness after being confined to the dark. I saw that I was no longer under the watch of the two men that were holding me but the man leading them still had me under his nose.  
>"Don't do anything, don't talk to anyone, don't attract attention and don't do anything stupid." He said as he began dragging me to their leaders' home. How do I know? Who else has a house this huge with a bunch of guards around it…Way to make it totally obvious. We stopped in front of a large door and left me outside with three other guards. It was really awkward and uncomfortable as they kept staring at me. My eye was slightly twitching in annoyance and looked the other way. A few minutes later the man came back out and ushered me inside the door, apparently Kisaragi was interested in what I had to say but not without guards nearby.<p>

I approached the door and immediately led to the other side of the house and out into a small courtyard. I saw a man with long shoulder length black hair wearing a purple wardrobe with a white bottom. He looked young and very fierce and quick to bring down an opponent. "What is it that you want? Speak for I do not have much patience and time, outsider."

I can't believe that I'm doing this. I sighed mentally and bowed, "My name is Daisy Crescent." I came back up and felt bile rise in my throat, "The Shinra Electric Power Company has a proposition for you and your people."

The man's eyes narrowed in suspicion, "What is this proposition?"

"It's simple really, you have a Mako Reactor on your island and they wish to purchase this island. Shinra would reward you and your people with riches and other things. Of course they will pay you, a much more reasonable price."

"No, I don't accept." His back turned to face me. "This is my people's home; I would never take away their home for any amount of money. They have lived here for many years; just because a big shot company says to jump I'm not going to ask how high."

"Hm. I see, but what were to happen should this cause a chain reaction, what would you do in that situation? Let's say, a war?"

His head whipped the right to have a corner view of me. "What are you implying?"

"Shinra is not going to back down, you having a reactor and saying no will cause something. If they can't have it then nobody can, don't think that just because you said no, that they will respect your wishes. They have no honor Godo," I began head for the door, "just because you are on the good side, don't think that good will always prevail." I left the house and took back my weapons without the guards noticing me and took off the rope that held my wrists together. I still had another half day until I had to go and report to Hojo so he would contact Shinra. I began to wander around Wutai and noticed a small empty looking shop filled with weapons of such. I lifted the clothed door over to the right and entered, there in all its glory, spears and swords were staring at my face. I haven't seen anything like it since Vincent bought me a Nodachi from the Hewely man.

"Can I help you with something miss?" I whirled around and saw an old man with a smile on his face. "I don't get many customers around here due to my style of weapons but you're not from around here, are you stranger?"

"No, I am not."

"Anything in particular you like?" I looked at the large axes and moved my gaze back to the swords.

"Show me your best works."

"My best works." The man looked owlishly towards me, "Will you be able to afford them-" I cut the man off as I pulled out three large bags of gil.

"Who ever said money can't buy happiness?" I smirked at him as he spluttered nonsense.

The old man immediately went to the back of the shop to organize his works so I could come and inspect them myself.

"When I get back to the mansion, I think I'll give Vincent a visit. Even if he is sleeping, it's a good idea to have my conscious cleared-even if it's for a little while." The old man reappeared and told me that he was finished.

I stood in front of many swords, some small and others long. I inspected each sword individually and it was already around afternoon. "Is there something that you want in the sword specifically?" He asked me after I checked half of the shelves. Only one-hundred and sixty-six to go.

"I want it to have six Materia slots, and for the blade to be about 6 feet long." I replied instantly.

"…" The man was silent so I turned to him, he then responded with down casted eyes. "I believe that I have just the thing, but it is very difficult to use."

"Show me." He nodded and showed me a hidden basement under the shop. As we descended down the creaky wooden steps I noticed that there was a very long shape under a white cloth.

"This sword is the most difficult creation that I've made in my entire life, it is the best but none of my sons could wield it." He took off the sheet and revealed an approximately six to eight foot long sword. It was beautiful.

"I know someone who will be able to wield this bad boy." I picked it up with both hands as it was heavier than my Nodachi. "I'll take it." The man was ecstatic and went to go get the cover for it. "He'll definitely love it…The Masamune."

I need to make sure he stays on the path I've laid out for him- open for options and not a puppet for someone else to pull the strings. For he is Sephiroth, his own person, all I will be doing is making sure he doesn't stray from the plan I've created for him.

666

**I know it's been two months and I apologize for the long wait. I know that Vincent is 'sleeping' but that doesn't mean we can't interact with him even though he won't show himself. There will be slight fluff between Vincent and Dawn in flashbacks in the next chapter. After all this is categorized under Romance. I don't know if I should do a Seph/OC pair…That's too awkward for me. Reviews are always welcomed! :D**


	14. Sweet Dreams Are Made of This

_**The One They Call Beautiful**_

_Chapter 14_

_I just finished running- which I hate- and moved slowly inside the mansion, due to the sweat and exhaustion of my muscles, to meet up with Vincent. It feels like he's training me for the Olympics or something._

_ "Hello Vincent." He was sitting at a table, gazing back and forth between papers sprawled around the table, working on many reports to give back to the head of Shinra, in the library. _

_ "Hm? Oh, hello Daisy. How are you?" His eyes met mine as I looked at him with an "are you serious" look. "Oh that's right; I made you run 2 sets of breakdowns." He said nonchalantly and went back to the papers as my eyes burned with rage. I quickly calmed myself down so he wouldn't make me run again as I sighed in a defeated manner._

_ "What else are we doing today besides stamina and speed training? I need to work on my strength as well." _

_ Vincent pondered as he put his hand under his chin while the other supported his elbow, "Have you ever heard of The Forgotten City?" His gaze turned to me with a slight smirk._

_ "Forgotten wha-?" I tilted my head in a confused manner._

**666**

_We arrived at our destination in a few days due to the location being farther north. The Forgotten City was not at all what I had imagined. I thought it would have been ugly, infested with creatures and such, but alas it was not anything like that. In fact it was beautifully tragic. The houses were bear with no sign of human life. The trees seemed as if they were crystallized and the sky was as black as the night, however the crystallized trees gave us a lot of light as we ascended up to higher ground. _

_ "This was a place of peace and once held prosperity." Vincent's voice cut through my thoughts as we were walking. "This place was once a home to the Cetra civilization, before the calamity destroyed them." He was short with his information and only gave me what I should know. "The Forgotten City has been an abandoned place since then, a perfect place to do your training." He smiled softly at me._

**141414**

"Stop dilly-dallying Sephiroth." I spoke bleakly as we walked through the Forgotten City. He was awed by the beauty of the forest and kept glancing at the trees; he looked like a little boy who never saw the outside world...of course he didn't, either he was being experimented on or training with me. I am one of the reasons he has never seen the outside world.

"Why are we here? You don't usually take me with you with your missions." The eighteen year old looked at me suspiciously.

"This isn't a mission; I'm here to work with you on your survival skills. I'll be damned if we don't do any kind of training, it took me ages to convince Hojo and Gast to let us go, I'm not about to let this go to waste." I unhooked the sword from my back and planted it into the ground. He still kept his Yamato as he did not know what training exercise we had to do and I had yet to give him the Masamune. We began to walk forward as I looked at a crystallized tree by the stream; it was the same area that Vincent had given me the first task in this god forsaken place. It was the worst day of my life.

"All you have to do, is survive for three days without me, if you can do that, I'll give you your present I promised a while ago." I motioned with my arms to the forest.

Sephiroth looked to his left, then right. "Are you sure this place will let me survive? It doesn't seem like it will let me out alive." His deep voice was a bit hesitant about the forest.

"Like I said before, survive for three days without me. Use anything at your disposal, think of this as a life and death situation." I said to him with closed eyes trying to concentrate on the crickets not too far from us.

"Did I manage to piss you off in another life or something? If so, I'm really sorry and I won't do it again." He joked with me, but I knew that he had no desire to leave me alone. In a strange and twisted way, I was his mother…sort of.

I chuckled at his antics and opened my eyes, "I'll give you some motivation if that helps." I took out a syringe and injected it into my neck. Sephiroth could only question what I had done. "That was poison, pretty weak right now, but if you can't find the green leafy plant to cure me in three days-which is in this forest- I'll die. You'll know what it is, there's only one place that it grows." I went and sat under the crystallized and leafless tree next to the stream. "Tick-tock Sephiroth." I mocked him and he ran deep inside the forest with his sword.

"I think I'll take a nap." I said to no one in particular and closed my eyes.

**666**

_"Tick-tock Daisy. You better find the cure, and fast." I turned away from Vincent and dashed into the trees. Stupid Vincent! I can't believe he did that! Three days of looking for the cure! What the hell is his problem?! I began to sprint through the forest to find that blasted plant, oh why oh why did he say strength training when it was survival skills? Did he have to inject himself with poison? I stopped running and shook my head side-to-side to get rid of all the negative words flowing through my head._

_ "Rule number one; stay calm and look for water." I said to myself and looked around the forest, which I have no clue where I am. "This is going to be a long three day process."_

**141414**

I awoke from my dream with a darn green frog on my head. I shook my head a bit and it refused to hop down. I sighed and grabbed the frog from my head and gently put it on the floor, only to have it hop back onto my head. I rolled my eyes and just slid lower on the tree and waited for Sephiroth. Two more days, and I will see his improvement. Two more days, and he will have Masamune. I couldn't help but feel my stomach turn in discomfort. It felt as though something was burning my insides but I know it wasn't the poison, it was the visions that Lucrecia had talked to me about. She described how he had a long silver sword and walked through flames that he caused, his body did not suffer any damage.

Rib-it.

My attention turned to the frog on my head, "Do you think I can help him?"

Rib-it.

"I'll take that as a yes. What do you think about Gasts' theory about Sephiroth? He's supposedly a Cetra."

Rib-it, rib-it.

"I think it's false as well Kevin, you don't mind if I call you Kevin, do you?"

Rib-it.

For some odd reason I didn't find it disturbing at the least that I was talking to an amphibian, especially if I'm supposed to chill and not move for another two days. If I did anything that stressed my body, the poison would move a lot faster through my blood.

I turned my attention to the stream by my side and stared at it. I saw something shinning in it. I stood slowly as to not disturb my little passenger and walked towards the item that was under the water. The item was a golden key. My knees touched the ground as my hand went inside the cold water and grabbed the small metal. I inspected it slowly and I immediately recognized the details on the key.

I felt shocked and put the key in my pocket. There was a buzzing sound coming from my phone and pulled it out. It was Veld. I answered.

"Hello, this is the Rejection Hotline the person you are trying to call-"

"Dawn, we need you and Sephiroth to get here, _now_."

"Why? We only just got here; Hojo and Gast gave us permission to-" I stood up from my crouching position.

"There's been a breaching of Shinra information." I put the frog down from my head and continued listening to him, "The hackers have coordinates on both you and Sephiroth. Get out of there, _immediately._ I'm picking you both up." The phone went dead and I immediately sprinted the way Sephiroth had taken off.

"Today just isn't my day." I said to myself as my red eyes turned to a brighter shade and gained more speed. "Why did you have to be superhuman Sephiroth?" Dust cleared out of the way as I sped through the forest and saw his footprints. "He may be fast, but I'm an even better tracker." I smirked and turned to the right and hurdled over a large rock. All I saw were blurs of the same trees, a never ending forest of white. About three minutes passed by and a missile implanted itself in front of me. It had a countdown of 15 seconds. "I don't have time for this," I sheathed my sword used one of my favorite moves, the Quick sword technique. Faster than the eye can see, the missile turned into a pile of small, neatly cut pieces. As it fell, it looked like white snow…deadly snow that is.

I've been told by Gast that he's fond of this move, said that it's done so quickly he doubts anyone would be able to see my sword moving. Sephiroth has never seen this technique and I pray to Gaia that he never does. This is my triumph card; I don't want anyone finding out the weakness of my technique.

I turned my head to the right and saw out of the corner of my eye at least 20 men armed with guns about 10 yards behind me. "This feels like déjà vu. Like what happened at the cemetery," I said out loud to them, "the only difference being that you guys aren't dressed as Turks!" I shouted and grinned at them turning my entire body towards them. My red eyes began to glow again and I brought my sword to the level of my eyes with the end of the sword pointing down diagonally to my left.

Their guns were upgraded since about nineteen years ago, no longer the scrawny guns but now there were portable mini-machine guns and mini missile launchers. "…"

"Oh, the silent treatment? You guys don't like talking much, do you?"

"…"

"Fine, I see how it is." I pouted childishly, and I struck the man in the front. I stabbed him through the heart and snapped the neck of another man with my hand. There was shock among the eighteen people but snapped out of it and began firing sloppily at me. I jumped back slightly and went behind the tree for cover. I waited until they reloaded and took off the blood that was on my Nodachi. I disappeared and reappeared in front of every man slicing down across their chests and occasionally decapitating them. I caused death, left and right; it mattered not to me, as I was already immune to their final cries of death and their gurgles of blood. I did not finish them off without one being alive. We needed one for interrogation, and I was in need of a very thorough bath.

I picked up my sword and placed it back into its case and knocked out the surviving member of the people who attacked us. I began coughing badly and went down on my knees. My right hand covered my mouth as the other carried my sword at my side. I saw the blood coming out of my mouth and I knew that the poison had spread quicker than usual due to my adrenaline carrying my blood faster throughout the body.

"Dawn?"

I was surprised and pointed my sword at Sephiroth. He looked at me with his usual bored expression, until he saw the corpses laying around me and blood on me.

"Back so soon Sephiroth?" I stood up slowly and held eye contact with me. "Do you have the plant?"

He reached behind him and pulled out of his small bag, a green leafy plant, it was the cure. "You killed them?" He asked me.

"Yeah," I said casually and pulled the plant out of his hand, "they were tracking us and were about to kill the both of us. Maybe I should've left some for you." I smiled mockingly at him. I ate the plant raw as there was no time to chemically take out what I actually needed.

"I already killed some, but I thank you for that kind gesture." He said with sarcasm. "I was wondering something." His hand went under his chin.

"Hm?"

"You said that you poisoned yourself, but you have an incredibly large amount of Mako in your body. Wouldn't it have destroyed the toxins?"

"No, not for this poison. This one is specifically designed to shut down the organs, and can evade the Mako in the body when it's inside the circulatory, digestive and respiration system. First, it attacks the lungs, the liver, stomach, intestines and lastly, it infects the blood to the point of turning it into a black substance and gives a gruesome death."

"How so you know this?" Sephiroth asked me.

**666**

_I was running with all my might. There was so much adrenaline flashing through me. I was so late; I was scared that the poison had overtaken Vincent. I didn't care that I had cuts and bruises on my face and body; I didn't care that my hair had twigs and dirt in my hair. I didn't care that I was crying with tears pouring down my cheeks. I knew that in my heart that he was dead._

_ I made it to the rendezvous point and saw him on the ground and he looked so pale. I ran even faster to his body. My hands became clammy and held the leafy plant in my hand as I fell on my knees with my eyes wide open and tried to shake him awake. "Vincent." I said in a timid voice. "Vincent, this isn't funny. I-I brought the plant Vincent." It felt like my heart had stopped as I tried looking for a pulse, but there was none. My small hands laid the plant on his chest and brought his large hand in mine. "Please don't leave me! I'm so sorry Vincent!" I put my head under his chin and stayed there crying for what felt like days, but it had only been about three or four hours._

_ I hiccupped while lying on his chest, I didn't know what to do, and I felt so lost. I couldn't distinguish left from right, forward and backward. Everything in my eyesight was a blur to me. "If this is what it takes for you to show emotion then maybe I should take sleeping pills all the time." His voice joked and lifted me up with him. _

_ My tears had dried by that time and I felt numb. "You made yourself look dead." I said in a hollow voice as my lips twitched up and down trying to resist from snarling at him._

_ His eyes widened knowing that I was pissed. "Daisy I-"_

_I slapped him hard and I began to beat on his chest weakly, "How dare you!" I began to cry again. "I thought you were dead!" My voice cracked at the end and I stopped hitting him and just settled for holding him._

_ I felt his arms wrap around my small body and hugged me closer to him. "You needed to know how it would feel like should you have been late. There are consequences on the battlefield Daisy. I'm sorry, but you had to know how it felt like should you lose someone close to you." He picked up the plant that had fallen on the ground and gave it to me._

_ "So there never was a poison?" I didn't say anything to him after, all that mattered was that he was alive. But I didn't know what to do with the plant._

_ "No, I was never in danger to begin with." There was a silence between us, "Daisy?" he lifted my head up and kissed me on the cheek. _

_That's what I thought he was going to do at least. _

_Instead, Vincent kissed most of my lips and part of my cheek for what felt like forever but it_

_Was actually a few long seconds._

_I never knew why he did that; I never knew what his kisses meant,_

_Until after he died._

**141414**

I paused slightly before answering him.

"I created it." I held the half eaten plant and set it on fire with my fire Materia.

The day Vincent faked his death, I was so angry and I still am. His real eternal slumber had reminded me of the plant and I had created the poison during the days that I had to watch over a still innocent minded Sephiroth.

We both heard a commotion of what sounded like a helicopter and looked up to see a large black Shinra copter with tinted windows coming our way, and fast. I took out my sword as Sephiroth prepared into his own stance with Yamato. Veld appeared as the one controlling it.

"Get in; they're going to send an even larger wave in a few minutes." His voice wavered a bit in the middle of his sentence. This meant big business if Veld was nervous. We dashed inside the aircraft and took our seats as we saw two large vehicles coming our way. Veld immediately pulled us up in the air as the door closed and they began shooting at us.

I looked behind us and saw what was on the two vehicles.

"**_Avalanche_**."

* * *

><p><strong>I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I appreciate those who have been patient with me. Don't forget to commentReview. :)**


	15. What Doesn't Kill You, Makes You Crazier

_**Warning: **__**there is a reason I changed this to rated M. There will be torture involved. Read at your own risk.**_

_**The One They Call Beautiful**_

_Chapter 15_

Walking through the dark stringent basement of the mansion was not what I wanted to do when Sephiroth and I just arrived from the Forgotten City. Unfortunately, the President of Shinra requested me personally to help "loosen" up this mans' tongue. It's not anything new that I'm used to, but it disgusts me even after all of these years of living.

"How were you able to get that man? There were a lot of AVALANCHE soldiers and even if you did manage to grab the one I knocked unconscious, there's no way that you could've gotten out of there alive."

"There is a reason we are Turks, we do the jobs that must be done whatever the sacrifices may be." The talking stopped as Veld and I reached the door. Veld slipped his card through the scanner and was admitted passage to a small room with Hojo, the President of Shinra and his son, Rufus. The room contained other Turks that I did not know about standing at each end of a large tinted window. In the other room I could see a broken man strapped to a chair under a small hanging light, behind a table with a chair on the other side.

"Why am I here?" I snapped at Shinra.

Shinra ignored my question and stared at me, "You're Dawn? I was hoping for someone more…older."

"You take what you can get Shinra." I cocked my head to the side in a mocking manner, which seemed to piss off the Turks in the room. The president raised his hand to keep them from attacking me and crossed his legs. His son just stared at me with interest but said nothing.

"I ask again. Why am I here?"

"I heard that you are good at breaking people...very quickly. I need to know who this Avalanche is and I need them to be destroyed. They're going to eliminate everything that I've done for this world."

"What 'you've done for the world?'" My hands slammed on the table and got into Shinra's face, "All you've 'done for the world' is stay rich, make peoples' lives miserable, and get fatter by the fucking minute by sitting in your desk eating fucking Burger King!" Veld grabbed my arm and yanked me behind him, but not before catching a smirk on Rufus' smirk.

"Forgive her President Shinra, she's just a bit cranky from not getting rest after coming back from the attack." Veld looked back at me, daring with his eyes to go against him.

"You should know your place Ms. Dawn. You are lucky that I need your area of expertise."

"Expertise? What are you talking about?"

"Torture." He said flatly as he took out a cigarette and put it into his mouth and proceeded to light it.

"…" I said nothing and looked at Veld as he also had paused for a moment. Memories began to come into my mind as Hojo "accidentally" overdosed me on mako injections which led me to go crazy and slowly tortured many scientists to death. Of course, Hojo locked them inside with me to observe how I reacted for the "sake of science".

My head whipped to the right and noticed that Hojo did not have a syringe filled with large amounts of mako, but instead a metal collar with a strip of green. "What the hell is that?" My hands became clammy and started to clench and unclench my fists in a nervous manner. I began to back-up on the sealed door and tried to open it with my password but it was overridden. I turned around slowly to see that the four Turks were coming towards me with the exception of Veld who just stood with his back facing me. "No! I fucking refuse to be a tool." I know that my red eyes flashed brighter as the occupants of the room flinched slightly except of Hojo and Veld.

Unfortunately another Turk had entered the room and electrocuted my back with a stun gun which caught me off guard as I stumbled forward. The other two Turks came at me to hold me down on my knees as Hojo came to put the collar around my neck. There were shouts of protests and could feel the sizzling of my skin as the one behind me kept electrocuting the back of my neck consistently. I could feel the irregular beating of my heart as it stopped and restarted once, twice. The collar was clicked in place and could feel small spikes inside the collar, but out enough to know that it was there. The Turks threw me down onto the floor and landed on my right cheek with a slam. The people in the room exited the area and went outside. I began to cough up blood and saliva as I could no longer contain the urge to cough. I noticed that there was still one person in the room.

There, only Rufus Shinra was seated at the table looking down on me with a bored expression on his face as if he's seen this plenty of times. "You should've just gone along with it, and then we wouldn't have had to waste time with such theatrics."

I let out a hollow chuckle and pushed myself up to look at Rufus. He had a remote control to her collar. "Then let me get this shit off and put it on you, let's see how you feel like being tied down like a dog." I shakily stood up using the table as support for my weakened body and maintained eye contact with the future heir of Shinra. "What do you want?"

"Hmm? What makes you think I want anything?"

"You're a Shinra, you always want something or else you would have left with everyone else." Blood began to dribble down the corner of my lip.

"True, so very true." He shook his head slowly while chuckling and lifted the control in front of me in a haughty way. "One push of a button and poof." His voice went silkily, "You're gone. However, I can take this collar off in the future on one condition." His voice turned into one that was dripped with a sugary voice as though he was trying to get a child's attention. I was about to comment with a sarcastic tone only to start coughing blood. My legs buckled but Rufus caught me around my waist and took out a handkerchief and started to dab my lips clean. "My, if only you were 5 years older."

My response was to spit more blood into his face. He wiped off the blood from his face and let me fall backwards onto the cold hard floor. "I'm going to ignore that, but only because I have a proposition that is going to benefit the both of us in the future." He came around to my side and crouched down to the appropriate level to hold my chin tightly in his grip. "Listen to what I have to say because I'm only going to say this once."

_15151515_

I stood in front of the door that held one of the Avalanche recruits. I opened the door and saw two Turks waiting at the man's side. In my left hand I carried a manila folder that carried his information. Vicktor Kruschev. A Russian from the other side of the world, an immigrant that came with his family to start a new life but unfortunately there was an incident. About five years ago a mako reactor exploded and wiped out half of the small town next to it. There were no survivors amongst the ones who were unfortunate to live near the reactor. Of course it would be Shinra's fault; we were responsible for messing around with what we don't understand.

I took a better look at him and noticed that he had two black eyes with his lip busted open and swollen. His shirt was caked in blotches of blood as his chest went up and down from his shallow breathing. Bruises were forming on his cheek and his arms, already turning into a gross yellow and purple color.

"Hello Kruschev." I said nicely and motioned for the Turks to leave us and threw the folder on the table.

Kruschev did not reply and simply stared at me without emotion. I did however get a reaction from him when I sat down in front of him, on the other side of the table. He kept staring at my eyes shamelessly with his mouth open. I guess the light enhances my color of eyes.

"How did you know Shinra's science department was in the Forgotten City?"

"Fuck you bitch."

He did not say anything to me after that, nor did he move a single muscle but could distinctly see small amounts of sweat dripping down his throat, along with deep breathing as his chest moved up and down. "Look Victor, in this room I can either be your best friend and make your stay here feel like heaven, or I can make your worst nightmares come to reality." I folded my arms and tilted back on the chair with my legs on the table. Once again he stayed silent and saw his hands scrape at the chair's arm rests. He was afraid, I could practically smell it radiating off of him.

"Got to hell. Your kind are monsters and I am not going to give in to Shinra. I swear that I will bring you down."

I ignored him and kept questioning him. "Just give me something to work with, a name? The hideout area? Something?" He did not say anything, still. Alright, the hard way it is. "It looks like I'm going to have to make you sing Viktor."

I stood up from my chair and went behind him to open a door and disappeared behind it. I emerged back inside the room pushing a rolling cart with a piece of blue cloth over it and put it next to him. His heart began to speed up even faster; I could hear his blood flowing through his veins as he tried to control it. "Last chance Viktor." I pulled off the blue cloth from the cart and revealed many surgeon tools. Each stainless steel tool ranged from a harmless little plier to a hand held chainsaw used to cut through flesh and bone.

I looked back at him and his eyes began to tear up in frustration and panic. "Let's do something small first, and then increase the amount of pain, little by little." I pulled on a blue apron sheet over my head along with a blue surgical mask and a pair of thin rubber gloves.

I first picked out a small pair of small pliers and put it in the light, letting the metal shine down on it and lightly poked Viktor with it on his cheek. "Let's see if we can have the tooth fairy leave us some goodies when you lose some teeth. What do you think?" I took out a syringe and pricked it into his arm leaving him paralyzed and awake. "You're not going to be able to move but you can still talk and what not. Just sit back and let me work my magic." I could already feel my sadistic side come out and used a mouth prop to keep his mouth open to let me use my tool. He kept trying to close his mouth and screamed but it was futile. I focused on his wisdom teeth and began to pull one out. His screams increased to the point that there was a ringing in my ear and were bouncing off the walls. I managed to yank it out but not without a squirt of blood getting on myself.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Oh shut it Viktor. I'm not done, let's just do two more." I pulled out them out one at a time and his screaming did not stop for what felt like hours but it was really, only, a few minutes. I set down the bloody instrument and three teethes on the cart. I removed the mouth prop and he began to drool as his tears began to go inside his open mouth from the pain. "So, do we have a name yet? Or do I have to jog your memory a bit more?"

He stared at me with those red puffy eyes from crying, "Y-you m-mons-ster."

"I know." I said solemnly, "But I don't have a choice."

"Y-you a-always h-have…a ch-choice." He couldn't pronounce things as he was in pain and shock. I truly did feel sorry for him, but compared to what I've been through with Hojo, this entire session…this is nothing.

"What do you feel about salt going into your mouth?"

Viktor's eyes widened as I grabbed a handful of salt and before he could do anything I shoved it into his mouth and kept my hand over his mouth keeping the salt in his mouth. He tried to move and could see his pupils dilating but the injection I gave him would not allow him to. His screaming was muffled by the salt as his eyes rolled back wards for a few moments and I let him go. He spit out the salt and croaked from his parched throat, coughing out blood from the amount of salt inserted into his body. He was panting heavily as his shoulders went up and down.

"A name. Give me a name."

"E." He whispered.

"E? Well I suppose it's a start." I walked over to the door again and came out with fire materia.

"No. Please no!" Viktor cried as his voice cracked in pain.

"I hope that you don't mind having a burned leg." I tilted my head in an innocent gesture and casted the spell silently.

I watched as the flames consumed his clothed right leg for about ten seconds. Those were the longest ten seconds in my life as I could hear his shouts of agony and this time for sure even though we just started this session…I thought I had killed him. I stopped the fire from spreading and extinguished it from his burned leg. "You're lucky I only did minimum damage, had it stayed longer, we would have had to amputate it." I turned my attention to the charred flesh and saw the top layer sizzling with smoke. My head whipped to Viktors eyes and could see him crying with a fountain of tears coming down his anguished face. His lip was bleeding from biting down on it to keep from screaming loudly…not that it helped. "Are you ready to be my friend or will you still continue to be my enemy? I'm starting to become bored of you and when I'm bored, I up the ante. I don't think that you will survive any more of what I have in store for you if you've already broken down now."

"What more…do you…h-have planned…f-for me?"

"Planned? Oh no, you misunderstand. I don't plan, I just use what I have available. Such as this beauty here." I picked up a metal sledge hammer from the cart and waved it under his nose as his eyes followed the shiny and clean nervously with wide eyes. "But let's see…there are 206 bones in the body," I pulled the hammer away from his face and lifted it up in the air and struck it down on his knee with a crack through the air.

"OH GOOOOD! AHHHHHHH!"

"Relax, you still have two-hundred and five bones left," I lifted the hammer from his busted knee and saw as the lower portion of his leg was standing up and could see the broken bone jutting out of his skin from the bottom of his knee cap. Blood began to leak out slowly down his leg and some remained on the hammer. His cries of pain turned into wails of desperation and the injection began to wear off as he was able to partially move his hands.

"Who sent you!" I roared and broke his other leg with a swing of the hammer.

CRACK!

"PLEASE! PLEASE STOP! I BEG OF YOU!" His eyes were hysterical and saw a strip of his hair turn white.

"Two-hundred and four bones, now tell me…who is the leader?" My voice went back to its usual calm manner.

"E-elfe."

"What about the hideout? Plans, weapons, anything that could be of use to us?"

"…"

I rolled my eyes and punched him in stomach, resulting in him coughing out more blood as he did not answer me. His body slumped against the chair and slowly looked up at me through his purple, partially shut eyes as I kept my fist driving into his stomach and cracked a few ribs. "I- I don't know. I only just…started, they would not…t-tell me much of th-their p-plans. Only that…Elfe…was the master—mind."

I removed my hand from him as Turks came into the room and transported him onto a stretcher. I just stood there looking at the ground as they left with him. I took off my blue apron and mask. My glove covered hands were coated in his blood and took them off with disgust as I threw it onto the ground and exited the room. I did not know where I was going, my mind was hollow, and my body shut down and let myself go onto autopilot— not knowing where my legs were taking me to. It felt as though I've been wandering around aimlessly for miles and miles.

That's what I thought, at least, until I saw a coffin laid on the floor. I reached out toward it and lightly traced the top with the tips of my fingers. "Vincent…I…I've done something horrible." My knees dropped on the ground and put both of my hands onto the coffin where Vincent was sleeping. "I'm so scared." My red eyes began to cry as my left hand touched the collar. "What am I, Vincent?" I asked him knowing he could not hear me. "Am I…am I a monster? It would make sense…right?" I questioned myself more than him. "Who would love a monster? Deep down, inside of me, I enjoyed his cries of pain. I was enamored with his screams. I loved to see him hurt. I couldn't tell if it was because of what would happen to me if I didn't follow orders…or…if I actually wanted to do it…and it scares me!" I banged my head on his coffin. A small trail of blood began to flow down my forehead and onto his coffin. "Help me. Please."

I heard a shuffle inside the coffin but as soon as I heard it, it had stopped. I got off the coffin and wanted to open it, but I heard someone calling out my name. It was Veld. I stood up quickly and was about to run upstairs until I heard him speak from inside the black box.

"Daisy."

I turned my head with a smile as I paused to look at the coffin. I brought the palm of my hand up to my mouth and kissed it as I blew it to him. I did not want him to wake up just yet…he still needs time to grieve for her…for Lucrecia.

_15151515_

"What happened to Viktor?"

"He is in the infirmary currently being healed and his memories will be erased. We don't need anyone figuring out that we killed him. He will be released in a month, so far he does not know what occurred, only that he was in an accident." He paused and looked at me. "You did quite the number on him, but I'm surprised that you did not cut him open just as you did to the other scientists."

I swallowed bile from almost throwing up and said nothing to him. "What does Shinra want with me this time? I've done as they've asked."

"He's heard enough of Elfe and AVALANCHE. He wants Sephiroth to go into SOLDIER immediately and of course will need you. You're one of the few people who can control Sephiroth. Once you help Shinra personally, you can't get out."

"So that's what the collar was for. It's pretty pathetic though, right?" I looked up at Veld. "I can hold myself against Sephiroth…and yet I couldn't keep you Turks off of me from applying that damned collar."

"Indeed." That was his only response as we continued to trek through the mansion towards Shinra. There were no noises around us, just the footsteps of our shoes echoing through the halls.

"If Shinra controls me, he can control Sephiroth…controlling Sephiroth in turn means…" I paused as I remembered Lucrecia talking about visions of her child, "that Shinra can control not just the Wutai war…but also the world."

Veld said nothing as we arrived at the door. "I'm right, aren't I, Veld?"

No response again. I sighed and stepped inside the door and faced Hojo with the two other Shinra's. The president was sitting in a large comfy chair behind a large oak desk and his son was standing next to him. Hojo was standing in front of the desk with a vial of a pink substance in his hand.

The fat man tilted his head as he took out his cigar from his mouth and began speaking. "I'm sure Veld has already given you the summary of what is going to transpire."

"Yes."

"Then you know that you shall also join SOLDIER…however, you will not go out into the battlefield. You will remain inside headquarters away from the public eye. You will not be sent out unless absolutely necessary. There are usually no women in SOLDIER, so it's best if the media don't know too much about you." He took another puff of smoke as Hojo began walking towards me with the pink substance. The President resumed talking, "The vial that Hojo has prepared, will make you age more to make you appear at the least twenty years old or so. I don't want the media on my ass if they ever figure out about a fifteen year old girl in SOLDIER and start protesting on why she would be out fighting. ..And no Dawn, it won't make you human again. Just age you enough to get you to look older. After that, you will no longer age again." I took the vial from Hojo and walked began to walk out the door.

"All I have to do is keep him in check, right? Nothing more."

"If something happens…you are required to terminate him—immediately."

I walked out of the door and shut it behind me and began to walk to the mansion's library at a slow pace. "Dawn, are you alright?"

My head turned to see Sephiroth walking behind me. "Yes, why wouldn't I be?"

"You looked pale." He stated bluntly.

"I guess you could say that…Have you heard?"

"About SOLDIER? Yes, I was informed about an hour ago." He noticed I had a pink vial in my hand. "What is Hojo experimenting on you this time?" His voice had an edge to it as he took my arm to observe the substance in my hand.

"This is my ticket to come with you. They don't want me to cause a ruckus because I'm underage to join SOLDIER as a female. So this thing is going to make me slightly older." I took my arm back and began to walk to my room…if you could call it that.

I walked to face a long mirror and through my reflection I stared at the pink vial…I was ecstatic because it meant I could grow more…but I was afraid of the side effects. I went back to looking at my metal collar and I hated it. I was nothing more than a dog…a puppet. The one thing that I strived to not become and sacrificed much to stay away from such a title…I still became a slave to fighting. I can still save Sephiroth though…not me…no. I was already in too deep to save myself.

I uncorked the vial and drank its contents. The reaction was almost immediate as I felt as though a fever was developing quickly. Pain shot through my body as I dropped to the floor, spazzing, with my eyes twitching and rolling to the back of my head.

All I knew—was black.

** Hello my fellow readers! I AM BACK!**

** With a lot more ideas of course.**

**So I hoped that you enjoyed this chapter and we will finally move onto Crisis Core!**

…**kinda. I won't follow the videogame exactly but it will have the gist of it.**

**Don't forget to comment!**

**Tell me your thoughts, opinions, anything really.**


	16. Make New Friends? Lame! Isn't it?

**Okay, you would not believe the year that I've had!**

**First with the drama, then with the family issues.**

**I've just recently read ALL of the Harry Potter books, which I must admit that it is one of the most best written series I have ever read!**

**XD**

**I just can't believe it! Over 6,000 hits!**

**But on towards the story!**

_**The One They Call Beautiful**_

_Chapter 16_

"Ohhh, my head." Feeling like a thousand pound truck ran over me is not something I ever wanted to experience again, ever. I clutched my head and rolled into a ball and noticed that my legs were a bit longer than before, as was the rest of my body. I slowly stood up and saw the room spinning. I began to fall but able to catch myself on the bed post. I looked to my right and noticed red eyes staring back at me. I was a bit startled, thinking that there was another person with red eyes like me. Until I noticed that it was my reflection in the mirror.

I felt my body go on auto pilot as I made my way to the mirror and noticed that my muscle had grown just a bit more, and begun to stare at the ground. "Huh…I don't remember being this far from the floor." I looked up back into the mirror and touched my face-taking my time as my features were a lot more mature than before- and noticed the baby fat that my cheeks once held were gone. "I feel like I'm in the Twilight zone." My mumbling was so soft, I doubt I even heard myself. My voice sounded more mature and smooth, very weird.

"At least my sword will be easier to use in combat." I said to myself and unconsciously touched my collar as I heard a beeping and static from it. A voice came from the damn thing.

"Dawn, we need you to come down. You've been in your room for three days. Hojo needs to see if any kind of damage has been done to you."

I was startled and dropped my had from the collar and sighed as I eyed a new set of uniform for SOLDIER. I was to be second class. I did not want to go anywhere near them, but it was necessary in order to keep Sephiroth in check.

"Right…how the hell did they know that I was awake?" I finished putting on the attire and began to walk to the lab and noticed that it was just about empty.

"Everyone has already left." I turned and saw Veld at the door I had just walked through, "Hojo will go over your body chemistry and see if what he gave you will cause problems in the future."

"I see. I want to get this over with and leave to get the mission done."

"This mission is going to be part of your life now Dawn. As long as Sephiroth lives, you will keep him under control. Any suspicious behavior must be reported. As for your role, first you will be instructing cadets as a 2nd soldier and keep a low profile. No one is allowed to know that you have a close relationship with Sephiroth as his mentor." Veld revealed books concerning science, English and math under a black clothed sheet on a large table. "I do hope that you can relearn all of these materials within the week that you have before you are properly introduced as a teacher…or you could just abandon this and go into Dr. Hojo's field and work beside him." He smirked at me before I gave him a half-lidded expression.

"Really? You do this to me now? Such a hard decision, either work with my arch nemesis or work with the bastard that took away my life." I shrugged and went to pick up a book. "I haven't used this stuff in ages…I take that back. I use math and science on a daily bases but I am horrible at teaching English. Much less grammar."

"Enough with the complaining Dawn." Dr. Hojo interrupted me as he took out a large looking syringe with three long empty vials in his grasp. "I need to draw blood in order to see what is going on within your body to make sure that nothing goes wrong. Sephiroth needs to be kept on a leash and you're the only one he listens to. So suck it up." He had a small gleam in his eye and before I could tell him off I felt a prick in my arm as he began to take a lot of blood from me. Three vials worth of blood.

"Ow."

"Stop being such a melodramatic child."

"I'll have you know that—Ow!"

"Stupid soldiers," I heard him mumble under his breathe, "Don't even appreciate how I can bend the laws of science to my will in order for them to survive in the field of combat and live." He took the necessary blood and inserted a whole vial into a machine that had a green laser beam and began to scan the blood. "It seems," he stared at the computers and began typing into the system, "that you will have slight twitching, and spasms since your body grew at an abnormal rate. You will also be experiencing random black outs. My suggestion is to not take any kind of alcohol, as it will only double the chances of these symptoms occurring." He took down notes on his clipboard as he gave me syringes in a small bag. "Only use them if you are absolutely in dire need of them, if you take too many you die."

"…thanks, I think."

"As you should be, if it were any other scientist you would be dead and your body would have to be burned in order to destroy the evidence." He said in a calm voice as I shivered and walked away and put the bag of shots in my pocket.

"All I can do is thank Gaia he hasn't put me back in that tank." I shuddered and remembered how the Mako began to change my body and messed with my mind.

"They are waiting, Dawn." I looked back at Veld and could clearly see the bags under his eyes, he kept getting older and I was the same as ever. We began making our way to the garage under the mansion.

"You're tired, aren't you Veld?" I began whispering to him as we walked side by side along the corridor. "It's been almost twenty years that we've known each other…or was it more than twenty? I get confused sometimes."

"…" He said nothing and kept walking to the desired destination.

We entered inside a large vehicle as I rode in the front with him and turned my head to face him. "It's sad isn't it? Life…it's so tiring, when people die the world just keeps on going. Never stopping." His eyes were maintained on the road. Silence was throughout the entire trip until I broke it again. "It must be hard for you…For your wife and daughter to die within a blink of an eye." My voice was solemn and noticed Veld look at me through the corner of his eye. "Parents…should never outlive their children." The jeep like car kept going on through night until we arrived at our last stop in the next few days. Shinra.

_Six Months Later_

"All right! Let's see if you understand the importance of History, shall we?" I turned away from the board and faced the young cadets. All were in their seats as the lecture hall was as big as a stadium. The young boys were nervous as they still were still not yet comfortable with a female superior. "Can anybody tell me why Napoleon Bonaparte lost in the Invasion of Russia, in 1812?"

Only one was brave enough to answer as his hand shot up.

"Yes Larry?"

"It's Harry—Bonaparte lost because he led his army during the summer and when he arrived at Russia's doorstep his entire army was almost starved to death or frozen."

"Correct, Barry." I discreetly heard him say Harry again, "Does anybody know the importance of why we need to learn about history?" I said as I began to go through the computer and bring up a screening on the board and turned off the lights. "No? It's simple really. We study past actions and use them as a sort of blue-print for the future. I mean we already gave the base for it from our ancestors. All we need to do is to not repeat any past mistakes and fix them. Still don't understand? Take a look at the Romans. They began to make ideas and created the Republican system during 500 B.C. That is what some countries use for the system of government and sometimes even Democracy."

That's about all I did for the entire month with different subjects. Lecture, test, and repeat. I honestly just wanted to work with soldier now. I didn't know teaching was this frustrating …hell I didn't care if I had to work with the President. I just needed to get out of here before I commit suicide—which isn't even possible for me, I've tried. Trust me, not going to happen.

16161616

"When you are in a life and death situation, the only piece of advice I can tell you, is basically what everyone else is going to tell you out on the field. 'Don't die.' Any other questions regarding Soldier?" All of the men were in a line, catching their breath and standing at attention after their long run consisting of ten miles outside in the training grounds.

One raised their hand hesitantly. I gave him the go ahead to ask his question. "Ma'am, is it true that with the Mako injections, the side effects of becoming a SOLDIER is glowing blue eyes?"

"Yes."

"And you're a 2nd class SOLDIER?" The other men in the line were getting fidgety.

"…Yes." I hesitated in answering, already knowing where this was going.

"Why do you have red eyes?"

"…That I cannot answer without exposing you and your teammates to classified information. All I can say is, I am a different type of SOLDIER." They all looked at one another in confusion. "You are all dismissed." Many picked up their gear and left in a hurry, probably from the awkward vibe. No sooner had they left, I saw a certain Turk that was all too familiar with my routine of life.

"Dawn, you are needed by Shinra." Veld came up to me and handed me a file containing information about the terrorists—the people that tried to kill Sephiroth in order to take down Shinra. I would gladly take down Shinra, if the stupid company would let me sneak out and get this collar off of me!

"You do realize that I already working for them for these past months." I rolled my eyes at him, but his response was a placid look. "Come on, no snide comebacks? There's no 'You should be careful what you're saying, these walls have ears'?"

"Code Red," was the only phrase that left his lips.

"Fuck my life." I closed my eyes and exhaled while running my hand through my hair.

"Come on, we only have so little time before the President give you orders. He is a very impatient man."

"Why can't Sephiroth do it? Isn't it his job to follow the President's orders? What about my class? I have to teach the 3rd class SOLDIERS about—"

"We're here." That was fast, we were in front of the President's office. "Sephiroth is the General and in Wutai for the ongoing war, it's under close surveillance at the moment, it was the President's orders, and someone else will be substituting for your class today."

"You sure do have everything figured out old man."

"Don't get yourself killed." _Good Luck._

"Like I would ever let that happen." _Thanks old man._

I walked into the office and noticed that an unknown scientist and the fat President of Shinra were arguing about something. To the right, we have the President's son, otherwise known as the dick—Rufus Shinra. He was the only one who noticed I was in the room. "What is it that you need that could not be postponed until this weekend? Not to mentioned that you called me out of my job in order to tend to your needs. This had better be important."

The unknown scientist finally turned around to see who was talking and his eyes widened when he saw my eyes and uniform. He looked at me with disgust but quickly retained a neutral face. "My name is Dr. Hollander and I hold a share in the science department with Dr. Hojo. I heard that your skills surpass even that of Sephiroth."

"In the past six months I haven't had time to train as much due to some," I glared at Rufus, "_unsatisfactory _performances done by the new cadets. I unfortunately had to undo the damage. No, I feel that Sephiroth would beat me by now unless I get my usual routine back, which I highly doubt. He was my protégée, and I would have no doubt that even I would have difficulties trying to get a good hit on him." It's true, the only reason I was better than Sephiroth before was because of the fact that I would train him personally. Now he goes on missions just about every single day and I would stay cooped up in Shinra teaching the younger ones. "Why did you call me here?"

The President stood up and came around the desk to waddle towards me slowly. "Dr. Hollander is in need of escorting two new recruits here, from Banora. They are project G, a different branch of the Jenova Project. They are as capable as Sephiroth, but Dr. Hollander would rather have them be escorted and be safer than sorry."

I inhaled loudly, and I exhaled loudly, trying to calm myself down. "This, is your code red?"

This time Rufus Shinra spoke up. "No, what Veld gave you, is the code red. The terrorists—so called AVALANCHE—have been trying to hack into our data base. We're hoping that by the time you come back, AVALANCHE only just gains information about today. We are hoping that with Project G, we can improve it to Sephiroth's level, if at all possible."

I still don't know why to this day, why they would rather make me do all the dirty work when the Turks can do it just as well as I do. I don't know what to say to any of the information that is given to me. I only look at my feet and hear shuffling sounds and hear the door close. I look back up and realize that it's only me and Rufus in the room. He casually takes out the remote to my collar from his suit's pocket and holds it in front of me by the antenna. _That bastard._ "We're going to need all the help we can get to ensure that we get Wutai. Sephiroth is already on his way to become a general. Why not give him a little push by giving him more friends that are like him? Project G." He put the remote back into his pocket and began to approach me. His eyes were almost predator like as he circled me slowly. "The last time I saw you, you had the body of a teenager. Now you have filled out nicely in just over six months." He was now standing behind me as he put his face into my hair and began to inhale my scent.

_Oh HELL no_!

I quickly turned around and grabbed him by the neck with my left arm and pushed him up against the wall with his feet dangling off the ground. I squeezed his throat and able to have my right hand go into his coat pocket and pull out the control to my shock collar. I brought my hand up eye level to him and crushed the evil contraption, knowing that he could make another one and have me punished for choking him. I dropped the scrap metal to the ground as he continued to struggle.

"Humans are so fragile." I said in a calm and low voice. "I can snap your neck and out deal is off. I wouldn't care if I died, as long as this company dies, I will be satisfied in taking you down with me." I let go of Rufus, causing him to bend over gasping for air. "I will still help you in taking down your father, but don't _ever touch me._ It will be your last if you do so again Rufus." I began walking away from him and opened the door but stopped at his laughing.

He started to laugh as he used the walls of the office as support. "Do you really think that I am going to let this slide? There will be a consequence for this."

"And I really don't care." I said with a sassy tone without looking back and exited the office. I saw two Turks that I have never seen and were talking while drinking coffee. They were the only ones on the floor as the small office cubicles were empty.

"Hey Turks!"

Both stopped talking and turned to look at me.

"You might want to check on the President's kid." My head motioned to the door behind me, "he looked like he was having a hard time breathing. Better go check on him."

The next thing I know, the two Turks sped past me and into the office.

"What I could do if I had the Turks wrapped around my finger?" I began to stroke my imaginary beard and thought of them grading my papers from the cadets.

_1616161616_

Not getting much sleep is always bad…not getting any sleep is much worse. I kept nodding off in the back of the aircraft in my solitary corner with others that were soldiers. I had my sword in my hand and my knee up with my head on it, trying not to nod off on our way to pick up project G from Banora. The flight in itself was silent, I could feel the new third soldiers that this was their first mission from how they fidgeted every few minutes. I sighed as I sat up and crossed my leg over the other, still holding my Nodachi in my right hand. Their posture was a dead giveaway to how they felt, some were slouching, and others were looking around the inside of the carrier while shifting in their seats.

"We are arriving in Banora, mind the landing."

Once we hit the ground, all of us-including me-fell off the seats. "Shinra should really invest in seatbelts." I rubbed my bottom and stood up. "Alright Soldiers. We are here to protect a cargo that is to be sent to Shinra, you are to not question what they are. We will go back by land. A Shinra cargo truck will pick us up." I already knew what the real plan was, but the newbies didn't.

We walked out of the lift and looked around the area for the meeting point. I saw two cadets wearing their uniform along with their helmet, both pulling two carts with a tall wooden boxes with them. Both of the boxes read the word fragile on them.

I smirked and told them to follow me. They did and entered the empty area that housed a large black truck. Everything was loaded into the truck and safely secured so the boxes would not fall over. What kept me on edge was that throughout the whole trip, nothing went wrong. It all went too easy. At least it was, until it began to rain bullets on us.

"Drive!" I shouted and closed the back door of the truck. The driver didn't have to be told twice and took off. The two cadets were still here, good. "You two, come with me. I ran towards a vehicle that wasn't shot at yet and saw many of the third Soldiers actually kicking some ass. Huh, may have judged them too harshly. I jumped inside the jeep and had the two cadets in the back. Let me say this, never let me drive, because I drive like a maniac. "You two, I know you guys are expert sword wielders, but any good with guns?"

Both of them looked at each other and nodded. "Good, you just made my life easier." I opened the compartment on the right passenger side and tossed them two Improved Twin Magnums. "I'll get closer to the truck, if you see anyone suspicious attacking the load, shoot to kill!" I pressed on the gas pedal and went well over the speed limit. Sure enough, we saw people in different versions of jeeps with a person managing the machine gun at the top of their vehicle. "Shit!"

I drove next to one and was able to ram into them with my own jeep. They crashed into a tree, more began to appear in pairs this time. "I would appreciate the help guys!" Both of the cadets turned around in their seats and began to shoot behind us, making them all go up in flames as they shot at the engine. It took about three hours until they stopped coming. "Wish I could do that," I grumbled and blew a raspberry. Thanks to my smartass, I wasn't paying attention to the road.

I crashed into one of AVALANCHE's jeeps as it was pulling out of the trees and made us flip through the air. It was all in slow motion as I saw glass breaking from the windshield and pieces cutting my arm. We landed upside down, but obviously I was pissed off. I turned around and asked if they were alright. They nodded and got out of the now useless piece of transportation. I looked around as I crawled out and onto the dirt road. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the truck was still intact and stopped for us. I stood up and turned to face the cadets. "I don't think you need the helmets anymore…Mr. Hewley, Mr. Rhapsodos."

Both took off their helmets to reveal black long hair, as the other revealed short red hair who spoke first, "I can't believe that we had to dress up like this, do you have any idea how tight these uniforms are?" Genesis started to rant as Angeal tried not to smile at his friends' antics.

"Not my fault, blame the President and Dr. Hollander. They wanted to make sure you guys wouldn't get hurt…just don't mention the part where we flipped over and crashed upside down. They would go nuts." I exaggerated using my hands in an animated way.

Angeal began to walk around and observe our surroundings and opened the truck that we were protecting. "Our weapons haven't suffered any damage." Angeals' voice echoed as he had a Rapier in one hand, and…an extremely large sword in the other. The craft was similar to another Mr. Hewley I once knew. What a small world. "I'll ask how much longer until we hit Shinra." Angeal went to the front, but tossed the Rapier to Genesis first.

He caught it in one hand and made his way over to me. "I don't suppose Shinra is now allowing females to become part of SOLDIER now? What rank are you?" He asked casually as he pulled out a book. LOVELESS.

"No, but I'm the exception to that rule. I am currently a 2nd class SOLDIER." There was an awkward pause until I commented on the book. "LOVELESS, I remember reading it when I was younger. It saved my life." I had a small flashback of how the bullet could have killed me if I didn't have the book with me that day.

"_When the war of the beasts bring the world's end  
>The goddess descends from the sky<br>Wings of light and dark spread afar  
>She guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting"<em>

I finished reciting the prologue and Genesis just gave me a look with big eyes. He shook his head and draped his arm holding the book over my shoulder. "I think we'll get along just fine." We started to make our way to the black truck. All I could think about was that Sephiroth had better not get hissy over me making new friends…screw it, he is _so _going to get jealous.

**Life has been hectic…I still haven't gotten out of school because our district is …weird. BUT I HAVE AWESOME NEWS! I got a scholarship to Japan! I am going for ten days for free! I obviously stay with a host family for a few days, then I go to Tokyo and enjoy the rest of the time with a few of my new friends!**

**Ahem, anyways, I apologize for not updating since…a long time. I have taken an oath to try and update as much as possible for this story.**

**Thank you to those who have stuck by me and waiting for a new chapter to be posted.**

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	17. The Melancholy of Dawn

**Ummm…Hi?**

***Dodges Chocobo and Cloud plushie***

**I'm really, REALLY sorry. Honestly, I lost interest in this story in favor of my other story and I completely forgot about this one until I got a message and started ranting about how I have not updated for a year or so. But, as I have stated on my profile, I will NEVER abandon a story…but it will take a long time for me to update. SO here's the next chapter…please don't hurt me. Sorry it's so short.**

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><p><strong>The One They Call Beautiful<strong>

_Chapter 17_

Soooooo…remember when I said that Sephiroth would throw a hissy fit about me making new friend? It is happening right now. I am currently typing my will in my PHS as Sephiroth is beating the crap out of Genesis and Angeal. Well actually, it's more like they're beating the crap out of each other. I can't tell who is winning yet.

I thought I would have more time before Sephiroth figured out where I went. Things did not go as I had planned.

**3 Hours earlier**

"You know Genesis, if you controlled your temper a bit more, I'm sure that you could have been an English teacher. You interpret a lot of poems very well." I just arrived from picking up the "package" and checked them into Shinra, making sure that they were fine after the attack.

Angeal chuckled and patted Genesis' shoulder, "Even if he did, he would most likely beat up anyone of his students if they didn't grasp poetry like he does and label them incompetent and leave the room dramatically." Genesis scowled and elbowed Angeal playfully in his stomach.

"They would not know the meaning of _true_ works of art and yes, I would label them as incompetent. I would assume it is due to their laziness and have no desire to read between the lines."

All three of us discussed about Shakespeare, John Donne, and Jonathan Swift. I liked my new acquaintances. It's hard to find people who are intelligent and strong. There are only a few people who I know of that have that…one of them is in a coffin, one is a human who does not like to show emotion and a leader to others like this, and the other was –unfortunately—groomed and experimented on to become a weapon of Shinra since the womb. All are damaged in some way. I am damaged as well.

"You seem to have misplaced information on where you went, Dawn." I stopped walking, causing Angeal and Genesis to stop as well. I turned around behind me and saw Sephiroth with a plain expression, but I knew that he was beyond pissed at me.

You see, I practically raised Sephiroth and kept the nightmares at bay as he did mine during the experiments with Hojo. Obviously he has some sort of attachment towards me, as I was his mentor and friend, possibly a mother, but I wouldn't categorize myself as such. I had failed him when I tried to get him out and most importantly I failed Lucrecia.

"It was a necessary mission that had to be done. I have an affinity for keeping low and taking out my targets without the flashy movements Sephiroth." _Don't argue with me. It was ordered by the President himself. _

"Hmph. And who are these three? Newbies?"

Oh Sephiroth, still with that smug tone of yours. "No, they were my mission, and they are your second in command." Sephiroth's eyes widened exponentially. "Angeal, Genesis," both stood up straighter and also had a controlled expression, "you will both be commanders under General Sephiroth." Angeal and Genesis gave me a WTF look. I would honestly do the same if I had just met someone who said 'You're going to be the next president.' I'm pretty sure that they've heard of Sephiroth even in Banora. "Now, you're all going to respect each other. I don't care if you don't like each other, so long as you look after each other's back. I am going to oversee your training. I will show Angeal and Genesis to their rooms and will get ready to start training." I looked at them and received a nod of agreement. "Sephiroth, meet at the company training room."

His silver brow arched, "You do know that the 2nd soldiers are using them, right?" _It's in use._

"Then arrange something." _Kick them out. _

"Hm." _Very well._

**Two Hours Later**

Sephiroth, don't you dare!

CRASH!

Man, I'd hate to be the janitor.

I commented in my head as Sephiroth sliced through a building causing the hologram to flicker due to damage. Angeal and Genesis had to rely mostly on dodging and taking turns at Sephiroth and were in sync. They had to get Sephiroth's pattern down before they could get real damage. Unfortunately for them, I trained Sephiroth to change his style of fighting to adapt and see through techniques. I had created Sephiroth, the best and worst of my life for Shinra.

This so called "training" was for them. To size each other up, and work out Sephiroth's dislike of them. Partly due to me being taken out of my classroom and going into a field, and the other of Sephiroth's insecurity. He doesn't ever want me to be taken away from him. I am all that he knows.

"Sonofabitch!"

I ducked as fire came straight at me. I looked up and saw Genesis busting out the materia. Then Angeal brought out his Buster sword. At this rate, I am going to die…well not really, more like brutally mutilated and burned at the crisp.

This went on for another hour, and I began to write my will on my PHS.

**Now**

"Alright! That's enough!" I instantly appeared in front of them and stopped their attacks. I had my right hand on Sephiroth's wrist, my left on Genesis', with my right foot high in the air on the inside of Angeals' elbow to stop all of them. This was a very awkward position for me, considering how short I am, but it got the job done. I turned off the hologram and put down all of my limbs into a relaxed position. Angeal and Genesis just looked at me surprised, Sephiroth was used to me being able to stop him. Though it's getting harder with time.

I hid my right hand behind my back trying to act nonchalant, but I was really hiding the damage that Sephiroth inflicted on me. My right hand bruised and broken from the amount of power Sephiroth was about to inflict on them.

"Now that you all displayed your 'male dominance' we're going to explain what will be expected of you three as the highest units in Shinra. You will take every task in a serious manner. I will be giving you the same training regime as I have been giving Sephiroth. You will be better and I will teach you how to survive." _I won't allow anyone to die. I've already sinned too much._

"For the next two years, you will be going through what Sephiroth has dubbed 'hell week'" Sephiroth shuddered at the mention of that. "I will expect you two to be able to put aside your male testosterone—I'm talking to you Sephiroth—and be able to work together. Dark times are coming." I excused them out of the room and hopefully have a talk with their mouths, not fists as I already allowed it. I brought my hand up to my face and observed how my hand was beginning to repair itself, albeit slowly. That was what scared me. I repair quickly, the amount of power Sephiroth had, broke my hand and part of my lower arm. "You're growing too quickly Sephiroth. I am in fear. Not of you, but your future." I put it down and brought my sleeve to cover the damage. I walked out and went to report directly to Rufus. Hopefully, he wasn't feeling grabby today.

_17171717_

Dawn was uneasy with Rufus, true she could kill him without hesitation, and she would be destroyed, but she would leave Sephiroth and Vincent alone. Sephiroth now had Angeal and Genesis, but would never know Sephiroth's' deepest and darkest secrets. Later this year, a new batch of incoming cadets would enter, and will train under Dawn. She has no patience. She will not accept anything less than your best. Not perfection, but your best.

She arrived at Rufus' door and knocked. It slid open and revealed Rufus with finger prints on his neck. "Did you get a new fashion tip? Looks good on you." I deadpanned. He just glared at me. "I'm here for the report, and I'll have you know that Project G is well done, but not as strong Project S. Since they are going to work as a unit, I will be overseeing their progress." Of course he did not know, I just made myself in charge of it. We both had to bend a little bit of the rules. I give him what he wants, he gives me more freedom.

"You do realize that you're stating that you will be taking over someone else's job and they will be fired? That I will have to convince my father to change his mind."

"Yes, dear Rufus, I don't know and I frankly don't give a damn."

I walked out and headed towards my room. I need to relax, and sleep. Unfortunately my mind and body had other ideas as I sat in my desk and stared at a small shoebox with the words 'Happy Birthday' that Lucrecia had saved for me a long time ago. She said it was a gift from Vincent before his death. I never opened it because I was afraid. Afraid of what contents it held.

I opened the shoebox and inside was an even smaller jewelry box. On it were the words 'Will you Marry Me?'

I couldn't breathe. I opened it and saw a ring with a small diamond. "He was going to ask me to marry him."

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><p><strong>Soooooooo. Yeahhhh. He was going to ask her to marry her. But you have to remember, he was still in mourning for not being able to be with Lucrecia and Dawn was just <strong>_**there **_**and comforting him. That and this was wayyyyyyy back in the day. Like around the fifties or sixties? I'm pretty sure even back then, men married younger women. Dawn was always there for him, but Vincent felt like shit—he just got rejected in favor of a mad and ugly scientist. He couldn't differentiate between love and feeling comfort…but this is a pairing between Vincent and Dawn(OC). We'll have to wait and see how this goes. Sorry for the short chapter.**


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